THEODORE, Ala. (WKRG) –Inside Katie Ladner’s Apartment, is an urn with a picture–the ashes of her fiance Cody Austin. Taken too soon in a tragic crash on I-10 just a month ago.

“I was freaking out crying. I was hysterical. I mean, he was my soulmate, my best friend, everything,” said Cody Austin’s fiance Katie Ladner. She says he was headed home on the night of August 10th when his vehicle crashed near the Mississippi state line–she didn’t learn about the crash until hours later.

“Kept calling them and calling him. And he wasn’t answering. And I kept texting and I thought he put me in airplane mode on accident because he’s done it before. But then his phone finally died. And I was up all night freaking out,” said Ladner. Alabama State Troopers say Austin died six days after the crash.

“Angry because he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. But of course, very sad and heartbroken. 12 and a half years, you know, and four kids, my kids, my oldest, he’s having a real hard time. I try not to cry because when I cry, it hurts ten times more,” said Ladner. The loss of Cody Austin comes on top of another hardship for their family–Ladner says their fourth child Carter was born just weeks before the crash on July 8th. The newborn remains in USA’s neonatal intensive care unit with complicated neuromuscular issues. Ladner says she’ll cherish their memories as they try to keep their lives together without Austin.

“He can make you smile and laugh. He was such a goofball,” said Ladner. The family has started a GoFundMe to help with rising expenses. Cody Austin is survived by Katie Ladner and four children: 11-year-old Colten Allen Austin, 3-year-old twins Kaiser Jackson Allen Austin & Kenneth Patrick Allen Austin and newborn Carter James Allen Austin