<P> Flashbacks reveal that his wife ( Salli Richardson ) and daughter ( Willow Smith ) died in a helicopter accident during the chaotic evacuation of Manhattan , prior to the military - enforced quarantine of the island in 2009 , when Neville stayed behind on the island as military personnel . Neville 's only mitigation for his loneliness is his German Shepherd named Samantha , a.k.a. Sam ( given to him by his daughter as a puppy to protect him before she died in the helicopter crash ) , interaction with mannequins he has set up as patrons at a video store , and recordings of old television broadcasts . At night , he barricades himself and Sam inside his heavily fortified Washington Square Park home to hide from the Darkseekers . One day , while waiting for survivors , Sam follows a deer into a dark building . Neville cautiously goes in after her and finds the deer 's corpse along with Sam , but the building is infested by a colony of Darkseekers . Both manage to escape unharmed and the attacking Darkseekers are killed by the sunlight . </P>
<P> Flashbacks reveal that his wife ( Salli Richardson ) and daughter ( Willow Smith ) died in a helicopter accident during the chaotic evacuation of Manhattan , prior to the military - enforced quarantine of the island in 2009 , when Neville stayed behind on the island as military personnel . Neville 's only mitigation for his loneliness is his German Shepherd named Samantha , a.k.a. Sam ( given to him by his daughter as a puppy to protect him before she died in the helicopter crash ) , interaction with mannequins he has set up as patrons at a video store , and recordings of old television broadcasts . At night , he barricades himself and Sam inside his heavily fortified Washington Square Park home to hide from the Darkseekers . One day , while waiting for survivors , Sam follows a deer into a dark building . Neville cautiously goes in after her and finds the deer 's corpse along with Sam , but the building is infested by a colony of Darkseekers . Both manage to escape unharmed and the attacking Darkseekers are killed by the sunlight . </P>
what happened to will smith 's family in i am legend
what happened to will smith 's family in i am legend
died in a helicopter accident
died in a helicopter accident