This is the last picture of a nine-year-old girl who was seen sheltering with her family 15 minutes before a tornado tore through their home and hurled them into a nearby field.
Annistyn Rackley, holding her favorite doll, smiles alongside her sisters Avalinn, seven, and Alanna, three, in the bathroom of the home the family had only moved into ten days ago.
Parents Meghan and Trey decided the windowless room offered the best protection as the storm barrelled towards Carruthers, Missouri, on Friday night.
The mom had sent the photo of the girls to her great-aunt Sandra Hooker to prove they were safe.
But 15 minutes later, a tornado tore the house apart, throwing the family through the air into a nearby field where emergency responders found them in mud.
Annistyn, a third-grader who loved swimming, dancing and cheerleading, was killed, one of 88 people who died as up to 30 tornadoes ripped across the Midwest, also striking Kentucky, Illinois, Tennessee and Arkansas.
Hooker called Annistyn a 'special angel,' recalling her as outgoing and energetic despite a rare liver condition that required regular doctor's visits.
Annistyn Rackley, holding her favorite doll, smiles alongside her sisters Avalinn, seven, and Alanna, three, as they shelter in the bathroom of the home the family had only moved into ten days ago. Fifteen minutes after the picture was taken a tornado tore the house apart, throwing the family through the air into a nearby field where emergency responders found them in mud.
Parents Meghan and Trey Rackley with their daughters (from left) Annistyn, Avalinn and Alanna
The Rackley girls (from left) Avalinn, Alanna and Annistyn posing for a family Christmas photo
Annistyn poses in a recent family photo for Christmas
Her father, Trey Rackley, a 37-year-old trucking company dispatcher, suffered cuts and bruises and remains sore and sometimes in shock, Hooker said.
But he and the youngest daughter, three-year-old Alanna - Little Lani - are no longer hospitalized.
Hooker said mother Meghan's injuries included broken bones, a brain injury and a large cut, and she's asking people to pray for the 32-year-old mother.
The middle child, Avalinn, or Ava, had broken vertebrae in her back and was expected to undergo surgery Wednesday, Hooker said.
Hooker said Annistyn still was full of energy and delighted in donning outfits and makeup for cheer competitions and learning new dances from TikTok.
After Ava reached a hospital in Memphis, Hooker said, she learned from family there that the young girl had told doctors and nurses, 'I was flying around in the tornado and I prayed to Jesus to take care of me, and he spit me out -
