Per Nicki Swift’s courtroom reporter, Vanessa Bryant walked the courtroom through the day of the helicopter crash from her perspective. Kobe Bryant’s assistant first delivered the distressing news of the accident, initially sharing there were “five survivors.” At the time, Vanessa believed there were only five people on the helicopter in the first place. Of course, it turned out to be nine.
In her court testimony, Vanessa also still believed Kobe and Gigi were fine after tracking their locations, revealing her family had the Life360 app on their phones. This specialized app not only tracks the location of family members but also can detect crashes and provide emergency responses. The app showed Gigi at a church, while Kobe was near a hillside. With that information, Vanessa believed that Kobe was simply helping someone at the crash site, while Gigi was safe with another parent. Tragically, that turned out not to be true.
Once Vanessa got to the sheriff’s station, she kept repeating to personnel, “Where are they? Where are they?” in reference to Kobe and Gigi. But, as she tearfully recalled, “everyone stared at me.” Finally, Sheriff Alex Villanueva told her no one survived the crash. She testified pleading to Villanueva at the time, “If you can’t bring my babies back, please make sure you secure the area.” Tragically, it appears her request wasn’t fulfilled.
