Clues Sought In Deadly Crash -- 11 Killed In Two-Vehicle Collision

The cause of a two-vehicle crash Sunday night that killed 11 people on Highway 97-A north of Wenatchee remains a mystery to State Patrol investigators.

The accident, which took the lives of six adults and five children, is the worst traffic accident in the state in more than 20 years.

Investigators last night said they had not discovered why a southbound sport-utility vehicle carrying two people apparently crossed the center line and collided with a northbound four-dour sedan carrying nine people.

Investigators said they don't know at what speed the cars were traveling.

Flames destroyed both vehicles. Seven of the nine people killed in the sedan were identified by police as driver Rigoberto Pacheco, 31; his wife Norma Pacheco, 27; and their daughters Norma, 6, Lucila, 4, and sons Rigoberto, 3, and Daniel, 2, all of Manson; and Hector Sandoval, 22, a relative of Norma Pacheco whose hometown is unknown.

An eighth passenger in the sedan was identified as Rigoberto Pacheco's cousin, Antonio Nava, 30. Pacheco's niece, Maria Torres, said Nava lived in Mexico. The remaining sedan passenger, a child, was unidentified.

The driver of the other vehicle, Danny Adamson, 18, of Cashmere, died on arrival at Central Washington Hospital, as did one of the children in the sedan. The passenger in Adamson's vehicle also died at the scene. He has not been identified.

Adamson's father, Norm, described his son as "always concerned about his friends and very popular."

Adamson, a 1994 graduate of Cashmere High School, planned to attend Wenatchee Valley College in the fall.

He was an honor student and participated in cross country, track and weightlifting, his father said. He was returning from Lake Chelan, where he'd been water-skiing with friends.

Adamson hadn't been back to Australia, where he was born, since the family moved to the United States 13 years ago. It was one of his goals to return this Christmas or next, his father said.

Norma Pacheco worked at the Chelan packing house of Beebe Orchard Co., and Rigoberto Pacheco was a seasonal worker at Blue Chelan Inc., a fruit-packing house in Chelan, his niece said.

Torres said the Pachecos were returning from a visit to see both sets of parents in Mexico. They'd left Manson about three weeks ago.

The couple met in California about nine years ago, Torres said. They moved to Washington in 1990.

Torres described the pair as happy. She said Norma Pacheco loved to give gifts for every occasion.

"I'm sad, really sad," Torres said. "But I know where they are - we are Christian people - and I know they now are with God."

Highway 97-A, which runs parallel to U.S. 97, reopened about 6 a.m. yesterday.

The collision was the third-deadliest traffic accident in state history.

Here is a list of the state's deadliest accidents, according to Washington Traffic Safety Commission records:

-- Nov. 29, 1945, 15 students and their driver were killed when a school bus plunged into Lake Chelan after skidding off a snow-covered road. Five other students and a woman passenger escaped through windows and reached shore.

-- Oct. 24, 1971, 12 people were killed in a two-vehicle head-on collision on a rural Walla Walla County road.

-- June 24, 1946, nine players from the Spokane Indians minor-league-baseball team were killed in a bus accident in King County.