UPDATE @ 1:11 p.m. (Sept. 11)
A traffic crash report released today shows the single-vehicle crash that killed two teens was likely due to a failure to control the vehicle.
Lt. Mark Nichols of Ohio State Highway Patrol said the crash investigation is now closed. He said evidence suggests the crash was a result of a failure to control the car but traffic investigators have not determined why she failed to control the vehicle.
“We have some reconstruction stuff we’re looking into to try and answer as many opened-ended questions as we can,” Nichols said. “We don’t have any indication that there was some sort of texting or medical condition for the driver.”
Witnesses at the scene reported seeing the vehicle passing at speeds of 80 to 90 mph.
Traffic investigators interviewed the surviving teen female, but at the time of the interview she had no recollection of the accident. Nichols also said that traffic investigators have not been able to interview the surviving teen male, who they believe is still in the hospital.
“It was a horribly tragic crash,” he said. “We still have a couple of other things out there that we may look into, but as far as the core of the investigation, it’s closed.”
EARLIER REPORT @2:05 p.m. 9/1/2015:
Shannon Foster, 18, a Brookville High School student, remains in serious condition at Miami Valley Hospital.
Information on Nathan Mowen’s condition has not been made available.
UPDATE @ 10:30 p.m. 8/31/2015:
Emily King’s father and friends were among those in a standing room only crowd at the Brookville High School cafeteria, which had gathered to remember the 17-year-old.
“I just want to let kids know that speed does kill,” James King, Emily’s father, told NewsCenter 7’s Kate Bartley. He urged the young people in the audience to slow down and obey the speed limit “because if you don’t, your parents are going to be in the same place that we’re in.”
King said the family has donated Emily’s heart, lungs, liver, kidneys and other organs.
Markie Koester, a friend, said, “I’m feeling really heartbroken right now because she really was one of my best friends.”
Another friend, Savannah Howard, said, “I don’t want to believe any of this right now.”
FIRST REPORT
Heindl, a 2015 Tri County North graduate, was driving when she lost control through the S curves on South Wolf Creek Pike near Providence Road around 6 p.m. Friday, according to the Ohio Highway Patrol. The car slammed into wooden posts, a bench and a stone wall before the car caught fire.
Heindl was pronounced dead at the scene. King, 17, a student at Brookville High School, died at Miami Valley Hospital on Sunday, according to the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office. Shannon Foster, 18, who is also a Brookville student, is in serious condition at Miami Valley Hospital. Nathan Mowen, 17, a junior at Dixie High School and a student at Miami Valley Career Technology Center, is listed in critical condition.
Brookville Local Schools Superintendent said school staff was in contact with Emily King’s family over the weekend and learned of her death. He said a prayer vigil is scheduled for this evening.King was a student at Brookville High School.
Heindl’s high school principal, Doug Dunham, said it was common for Paje and her family to be at athletic events, adding he had to pull her parents from the football stands Friday evening when authorities were looking to notify them. Her brother is on the football team at Tri County North.
“Her family has been in the Tri County North area for quite awhile,” Dunham said. “Her dad was one of our coaches, and her brother right now is on our football team. It’s been a tough, tough weekend for all of us and we’re working to get through it together.”
He said the Tri-County community was invited to go to tonight’s vigil at Brookville.
“She was a great person to be around. She always had a smile on her face,” Dunham said. “I always remember every day, when I walked in, she was always – had a smile on her face. And even on the bad days, she would always bring a smile to the building.”
On Sunday, family and friends of the victims held a prayer vigil outside Miami Valley Hospital.
“All I know is the driver lost control, presumably due to speed on a curve,” said Mowen’s mother, Debby Mowen. “I heard that she almost hit another car head-on and then she over-corrected and ended up hitting a retaining wall by a water spring.”
“He is still in very critical condition,” said Debby Mowen of her son. “I can say he is in better condition than he was on Friday when he was brought here by CareFlight.”
She said doctors have done all they can do, and “it can go either way,” according to Debby Mowen.
“He was left with who broken femurs, a broken wrist, a broken vertebrae, a small spleen injury and then facial fracture which has caused massive swelling as well as he had some chest trauma,” she said.
But Debby Mowen says she still has hope.
“Don’t underestimate the power of prayer,” she added.
Debby Mowen said the next hurdle is for her son to gain consciousness so doctors can assess his cognitive ability.
Meanwhile, a celebration of life service has been set for Heindl, who was trapped in the burning wreckage of the car, for 7 p.m. Thursday at Lewisburg United Methodist Church, 3147 U. S. 40, in Lewisburg.
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