How did Neilia and Naomi Biden die?

PRIOR to his marriage to educator Jill Biden, Joe Biden tied the knot once before with his first wife, Neilia Hunter.

Before the 30-year-old lost her life, Neilia and Joe welcomed three children together, Beau, Hunter, and Naomi.

How did Neilia and Naomi Biden die?

In 1972, Joe Biden had just been elected as senator of Delaware when his wife, Neilia Hunter decided to take their three children to get a Christmas tree.

On Monday, December 18, Neilia Hunter and their infant daughter Naomi were killed in a car crash when their vehicle was struck by a truck carrying corncobs.

Hunter and Beau were critically injured but survived the accident.

While recalling the tragic ordeal in his 2007 memoir Promises to Keep, Joe said: "The first few days I felt trapped in a constant twilight of vertigo, like in the dream where you’re suddenly falling … only I was constantly falling.

"I began to understand how despair led people to just cash it in; how suicide wasn’t just an option but a rational option."

The 46th President remembered the effects of Neilia and Naomi's deaths on their sons: "But I’d look at Beau and Hunter asleep and wonder what new terrors their own dreams held, and wonder who would explain to my sons my being gone, too. And I knew had no choice but to fight to stay alive."

He mentioned to : “Neilia was my very best friend, my greatest ally, my sensuous lover.

“The longer we lived together the more we enjoyed everything from sex to sports."

He added: "Most guys don’t really know what I lost because they never knew what I had.

"When you lose something like that, you lose a part of yourself that you never get back again."

Who was Neilia Biden?

Born on July 28, 1942, Neilia was an American educator when she met the future president, Joe Biden.

The two met while they were on vacation in the Bahamas and Joe was attending the University of Delaware at the time.

On August 27, 1966, Neilia and Joe tied the knot and held their wedding in Skaneateles, New York.

On February 3, 1969, Neilia gave birth to her and Joe's first son Beau Biden.

Hunter Biden was born the following year on Wednesday, February 4.

On November 8, 1971, the Biden family welcomed their third child, a daughter named Naomi.

Neilia Biden didn't live to see her Senator husband become the president of the United States after winning the 2020 election against Donald Trump. The president announced his withdrawal for reelection on July 21, 2024, months ahead of Election day.

How did Hunter's brother Beau die?

On May 30, 2015, Beau Biden died at the age of 46 from a battle with brain cancer.

He had spent more than a week receiving treatment at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, where he spent his final moments.

In the wake of his passing, Beau left behind his widow Hailie, their two children Natalie and Robert II, his brother, Hunter, and sister, Ashley.

The eldest of Joe Biden's children, Beau was the second child that he lost.