Hours after trucker’s body was recovered from Chesapeake Bay, his girlfriend gave birth to son

Jane Harper, The Virginian-Pilot
·3 min read
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When Melissa Vo went into labor late Thursday afternoon, she immediately called her boyfriend.

But Vo’s calls to Christopher Scott kept going straight to voicemail, according to her sister, Delina Moody. While Vo was anxious to get in touch with Scott, she wasn’t too concerned when he didn’t answer, Moody said.

“He’s a truck driver and she just thought he might be sleeping,” the sister said.

Early Friday morning, however, while Vo was still in labor, she learned a tractor-trailer believed to be driven by Scott had gone over the side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel the day before. A few hours later, she was told Scott’s body had been found in the truck’s cab after it was pulled from the water.

Vo, 33, a resident of Henrico County, gave birth later that afternoon to the couple’s first child together: a son weighing just under 8 pounds, Moody said. He was born just a little more than 24 hours after Scott’s truck drove off the bridge.

“She’s doing OK,” Moody said of her sister during a phone interview Saturday evening. “I think the baby is a good distraction.”

The boy will be called Cameron, the name Vo and Scott had picked out, Moody said.

In a post on Vo’s Facebook page Saturday, she wrote of her heartbreak, as well as her determination to stay strong for her family.

“You will forever be missed, you had such a beautiful soul & will never be forgotten I love you to the moon and back and I know your watching over us,” the post said. “It has truly been hard for me to write this because It has been surreal and I’m still in shock, my heart breaks every time I see your pictures but I will stay strong and carry on to raise all the kids as well as protecting them. Our son will know his dad and how big of a heart he had.”

The post was accompanied by photos and videos of the couple, with the song “Missing You” in the background. One of the videos showed Scott, 36, smiling and laughing while sitting behind the wheel of a tractor-trailer.

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“He was the most outgoing person,” Moody said. “Very friendly. Huge personality. He was so good for my sister because she’s the complete opposite.”

According to Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel officials, Scott was was traveling from Virginia Beach toward the Eastern Shore around 1:50 p.m. Thursday when his rig drove off the bridge. On Friday, the officials announced the truck had been recovered with Scott’s body inside.

The cause of the accident is still unknown, and the investigation by The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel Authority Police is ongoing. The truck was hauling landscape supplies. It was owned by Keep It Moving 22, LLC, a moving and storage company based in Mechanicsville, Maryland.

Vo and Scott each had two other children from previous relationships, Moody said. The couple had been dating for about a year and planned to get married, she said.

Moody created a GoFundMe account for her sister Friday to help with expenses in the coming weeks and months. Vo works as a self-employed nail technician, Moody said.

“I just want to help her in any way I can,” the sister said. “I know she’s going to need it.”

Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com