On 16 and Pregnant and the first season of Teen Mom, Farrah Abraham doesn’t reveal much about the father of her daughter, Sophia, except that she’s cut him out of her life. On 16 and Pregnant Farrah’s mom tells her to block his number to keep her from calling her cell phone.
Farrah complies with her mother’s request and not long after cutting off contact with her baby’s daddy, 18-year-old Derek Underwood died in a car accident.
On Decemeber 28, 2008 Derek, who Farrah cited as Sophia’s father on her Facebook page, was driving when he lost control of the car; it skidded and flipped over into a power pole killing Underwood and another passenger, Zachary Mendoza. Both boys were from Council Bluffs, Iowa and were 18-years-old at the time of their death. Another teenager in the car, Dustin Congdon, survived.
Farrah Abraham and Sophia's father Derek Underwood, who died in a car accident Decemeber 28, 2008
Farrah’s Facebook photo captioned “Derek Underwood – Sophia’s dad R.I.P”
From KETV in Omaha:
Derek Underwood’s sisters told KETV ‘NewsWatch 7 that he was a good athlete and was about to be a father.
“He would always cook for us, and all his friends, whenever they came to the house, he loved to cook, he was going to go to culinary school,” said Kassy Underwood.
“Definitely lived on the edge, but he was responsible, he went to work, came home,” said Alissa Underwood.
Derek Underwood’s obituary:
Derek Anthony Underwood, age 18, of Council Bluffs, Iowa passed away December 28, 2008, from injuries suffered in a motor-vehicle accident.
Derek was born May 8, 1990, in St. Joseph, Missouri to Stormie Clark and Jerry Underwood. He moved to Council Bluffs 10 years ago and graduated from Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson High School in 2008. Derek was a waiter/server at Rick’s Boatyard in Omaha for the past year.
He is survived by his mother and stepfather, Stormie and Mike Clark of Council Bluffs; father, Jerry Underwood of St. Joe, Missouri; sisters, Alissa and Kassy Underwood both of Council Bluffs; grandmother, Rose Hawkins; great grandmother, Catherine Rice; aunt, Dawn Hawkins; uncles, Rick, Tony and Adam Hawkins all of St. Joe.
Visitation with the family, Tuesday, 4:00-7:00 p.m. at Cutler-O’Neill-Meyer-Woodring Funeral Home in Council Bluffs. Funeral service, Friday, 1:00 p.m. at the Meierhoffer Funeral Home in St. Joe. Reverend Gene Lee will officiate. Interment Memorial Park Cemetery, St. Joe.
(Obituary from Zwire and SouthwestIowaNews.com)
Zachary Mendoza’s mother Jackie Kennedy was seen on surveillance cameras purchasing a bottle of Skyy vodka found at the scene of the crime and although it was determined Derek had been drinking, his blood alcohol was below the legal limit. For that reason Kennedy was only charged with a misdemeanor count of supplying alcohol to a minor.
Farrah remained silent about the existence of Derek during her stints on 16 & Pregnant and Teen Mom Season 1, but really opened up about him during a filmed therapy session on the third episode of Season 2. She explained that she was dating Sophia’s dad when she became pregnant, but her parents Debra Danielson and Michael Abraham urged Farrah to keep the pregnancy a secret and break up with him. In the clip below Farrah explains that she wasn’t very happy with him either when she decided to cut off contact with him. When he died, she said her parents didn’t want to talk about Farrah’s feelings and grief, and seemed to be relieved that “the problem [was] gone.”