About three weeks after the boy’s death, Lopes was driving on a highway in Honduras in an SUV carrying a total of nine passengers. While some facts about the accident remain unclear, what is known, according to Biography, is that Lopes may have been speeding just prior to the accident. Reportedly, a car stopped ahead of her and Lopes swerved to avoid it, causing the SUV to strike trees and flip several times. Lopes died at the scene and was the accident’s only fatality. Incredibly, just as had been the case in the aftermath of the Honduran boy’s death weeks before, Lopes was being filmed, capturing the final terrifying seconds before the crash. 

With such a public death — especially one documented on video — some fans began to speculate that Lopes’ death was not an accident, possibly some kind of retribution, though this has been proven false. The reality was that this talented young woman died accidentally and too young. After her death, TLC never replaced Lisa Lopes in the group’s lineup. And despite whatever tensions may have flared between them, TLC’s Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins had only love for Lopes. “She was our sister, you know?” Thomas said. “Did I get mad at her? Yes. But did I love her less? No.”