Mount Si students in mourning again: Crash kills two friends, both 16
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SNOQUALMIE - As she had done almost every week for the past several years, 16-year-old Abby Jo Cunningham took a friend to the New Life Christian Center to try to bring another person closer to God.
On Wednesday, it was Carly Stauch, an athletic 16-year-old classmate from Mount Si High School. And as Abby had hoped, Carly met with a youth pastor, recited a salvation prayer and committed her life to the Christian faith.
Two hours later, Abby and Carly were dead.
At 10:24 p.m. the 1989 Chevy Suburban driven by Cunningham skidded off Highway 202, a curvy road, about a half-mile north of the Salish Lodge.
The two girls, along with 16-year-old Elaine Smith, a sophomore at the same school, were going to Abby's house for a sleepover, friends said.
According to police, the long blue and silver truck skipped across the center lane, jumped a dirt berm and flew sideways down a steep embankment, slamming roof-first into a big Douglas fir. Police are investigating how fast the vehicle was traveling before it left the road, which was dry at the time.
Cunningham and Stauch, who were in the front, died at the scene. Smith, who lives in North Bend, was riding in the right rear seat. She escaped with only minor facial abrasions, according to a Harborview Medical Center spokeswoman.
All were wearing seat belts.
The crash crumpled the Suburban. It took tow-truck operators and police half an hour just to stabilize the vehicle and rip open the doors with cables and saws. It took firefighters an hour to free Smith from the wreckage.
"It's the worst wreck I've ever seen," said Mike Conway, a Wyrsch's Towing truck operator who came to the crash site.
Broken glass and shards of blue plastic littered the site yesterday. As the day wore on, piles of roses and carnations began to be dropped off.
The accident is the latest tragedy at Mount Si High. In 1998, 18-year-old senior David Szczepanik died after his car hit a tree. Also that year, 15-year-old freshman Dane Rempfer was killed in a hit-and-run accident. In 1999, Salome Holly, 18, and Amanda Baldwin, 15, were murdered by their stepfather, Dayva Cross.
"Why us?" asked Nicole Munson, 17, a junior at Mount Si. "It's like a curse. There's some lesson that we haven't learned yet."
News spreads fast in the Snoqualmie Valley. Yesterday, Mount Si Principal George Ilgenfritz watched somberly from the school's front door as the 1,200 students in his charge filtered slowly in. Counselors, teachers and security guards stood by, ready to help.
Ilgenfritz heard the news about 4:30 a.m. yesterday. An hour later, he was meeting with his administrative team and going over an emergency-preparedness plan. Shortly after noon, he made an announcement over the school's public-address system.
"I acknowledged that the tragedy happened, that we're grieving, that they are part of our family and that they are in our thoughts," he said. "Right now, I'm trying to take care of the needs of other people. I'll do my grieving later.
"You watch them grow up. You watch their laughter and their joy, their struggles," Ilgenfritz said. "This is shock."
Some students wore red ribbons or toted teddy bears. Several impromptu memorials were planned for last night.
Three large blank posters - one for each girl - were placed in the main lobby of the high school. Throughout the day, students filled them with their thoughts and condolences.
"She was so positive, always upbeat, always in a good mood, always with a smile on her face," said Richele Stauch, Carly's mother.
"She was a middle child who kept family and friends going. She was a rolling stone who picked up friends wherever she went. That was just her personality. She was our sunshine."
Carly Stauch, who lived in Fall City, played soccer, tennis and enjoyed skiing, her mom said. Cunningham, a Snoqualmie resident, was remembered for her devotion to Jesus Christ, family and friends said.
"Abby wasn't concerned with the things that most people her age were concerned with," said Sue Crabb, one of the youth leaders at New Life Christian Center.
"She really wasn't interested in being rich or looking like a model. She talked an awful lot about wanting to have the opportunity to have her whole school come to Jesus."
Cunningham sang on her church's worship team and was taking Christian-leadership classes at a camp in Carnation. She had already planned a trip this month to Liberty University, a Christian college in Virginia. Friends said one of her favorite experiences was going on a 1999 mission to Touluca, Mexico.
"She was a good girl, a good Christian girl," said Mike Johnson, Abby's uncle, as he removed a light-purple compact-disc case from the wrecked car in the towing yard. "She was just learning how to drive."
The Stauch family asks that in lieu of flowers, checks may be sent to a memorial fund at Snoqualmie Falls Credit Union, 9025 Meadowbrook Way S.E., Snoqualmie, WA 98065.
Seattle Times reporter Louis T. Corsaletti contributed to this report.