Accident fueled by alcohol ends lives of six young people
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Karen Bice came home from playing bingo Monday night to find a party raging in her Auburn condominium.
Her 28-year-old daughter, Teresa Hedlund, and the daughter's 22-year-old fiancé, Timothy Stewart, lived there, too, and were playing host. Bice put her foot down, police and family friends say. She'd told them before not to party there.
Believing at least one of the revelers had not been drinking and could drive, she told them to get out.
The party broke up. Some people left in their own cars. But Hedlund and Stewart, Stewart's twin brother and four other young friends piled into a compact car built for four. And they sped off - toward the worst single-car accident in state history.
"Next thing we know, Karen sees the thing on TV," said Kris Stewart, the twins' sister-in-law. "She just had this mother's instinct. There was just too much of a coincidence."
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Six of the young people died instantly when the Ford ZX2 smashed into a bridge pillar, leaving bodies scattered across an Auburn road, the smell of alcohol still wafting from the car. Only Hedlund was still clinging to life.
Yesterday, families and friends were mourning the deaths of the inseparable-but-rebellious twin brothers, their feisty-but-troubled buddy who was trying to straighten up, two teenage girls who were neighbors and lifelong pals, and a 21-year-old college student from Federal Way.
They held onto the hope that Hedlund, a love-struck single mother looking toward her wedding day, could recover from the massive injuries that left her unconscious at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, unable to breathe on her own.
"It's senseless," Kris Stewart said. "We just don't understand why."
The King County Medical Examiner's Office yesterday identified the dead as Stewart, his twin brother Thomas A. Stewart; Brandon Dupea, 21, of Algona; and April Byrd, 17, of Auburn. Also dead is Jayme Vomenici, 18, of Auburn, though medical examiners said they have yet to positively identify her remains, and Marcus Cooper, 21, of Federal Way.
This morning, Hedlund remained in intensive care at Harborview, in critical condition with head and internal injuries and a broken pelvis.
Auburn police yesterday blamed alcohol and excessive speed for the crash about 10:30 p.m. on 15th Street Southwest just east of Highway 167, near the SuperMall of the Great Northwest in Auburn.
Police said the car, a 2001 ZX2, was traveling at least 60 mph in a 35-mph zone when it hit a curb.
Part of the front brakes and wheel assembly broke off. It kept moving, flying over the curb, through some ivy and into a concrete overpass pillar.
It was Vomenici's car, family members said yesterday, though Tom Stewart was behind the wheel.
Hedlund was in the passenger seat. The five others were crammed in the back seat.
No one was wearing a seat belt.
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The impact with the pillar caved in the driver's-side door and tore the roof off the car. For reasons unclear to police yesterday, the rear window glass had already been removed.
The car spun 360 degrees. The back-seat passengers were catapulted from the car.
Tom Stewart remained in the driver's seat. Hedlund was still in the passenger seat, likely saved by the air bag, police said yesterday.
Autopsies showed the victims all died of severe impact trauma to their heads and bodies.
The victims' families yesterday were puzzled that Tom Stewart was driving. As the party broke up, the group promised Bice that Vomenici would be driving.
Bice, 55, was sequestered at her mother's Seattle home yesterday and declined to comment.
"They told her that Jayme wasn't drinking and that since it was her car, she'd be doing the driving," Kris Stewart said. "And so she let them all go."
Police yesterday said they think most if not all of the victims had been drinking. The medical examiner won't receive the blood-test results for weeks.
But regardless, Tom Stewart shouldn't have been driving.
He had an extensive record of traffic violations and a suspended license. He also had a felony conviction for malicious mischief and a record of other misdemeanor crimes, from liquor violations to trespassing and stolen-property possession. He recently spent time in jail.
His brother, too, had a history of driving offenses and had been arrested several times for driving with a suspended license and alcohol offenses.
They were born rebels, their family said. But they prefer to remember the inseparable and beloved duo who were too busy having fun, singing and dancing, charming friends and getting into mischief to finish high school and live life too seriously.
"The boys came into this world together; the boys went out of this world together," said their brother Duane Stewart, 32. "So God must have something special planned for them."
They were fraternal twins, the youngest of five kids born to a family that loved adventure. Their father used to race homemade cars at Seattle International Raceway and runs an Auburn detailing shop, relatives said.
"Tim was the leader; Tom was the follower," their brother said. "Whatever Tim did, Tom did.
At 14, they played sniper with a BB gun and shot out car windows. At 18, they swiped a drag-racing car from their dad's shop and went for a joy ride. They worked odd jobs. Tom really liked fast-food gigs.
Three years ago, Tom briefly dated Hedlund. But Hedlund had her eye on his twin.
"She started dating Tom just to get Tim's attention," Kris Stewart said. "It worked."
Tim Stewart and Hedlund were engaged a year ago. Together, they were living with Bice and raising Hedlund's 4-year-old daughter, Kennedy, who called Stewart "Dad."
"Kennedy and Teresa were the best thing that ever happened to Tim," said cousin John Svavarsson of Mill Creek. Hedlund was looking forward to the wedding and was head over heels for her future husband, the family said. But Hedlund was in no position to drive, either. She had repeated traffic violations and a warrant out for her arrest for not showing up to court to face her latest charge of driving with a suspended license.
Lately, Jayme Vomenici was head over heels for the brand new Ford ZX2 she had just bought.
She'd dropped out of Auburn High School, but she remained close to her childhood pal April Byrd, who was going to be a senior at Auburn and toyed with becoming a dental hygienist someday. They lived two doors apart in an Auburn mobile-home park.
A schoolmate, Alisha Briscoe, 18, of Auburn, said Byrd was nice and outgoing. "She was real," she said.
Byrd and Vomenici told their families they were headed to another girlfriend's house to spend the night and maybe go to Wild Waves and Enchanted Village amusement park in Federal Way the next day. But instead, their families and friends figure, they ran into April's ex-boyfriend Dupea. And they headed for the party.
Dupea was also a high-school buddy of the Stewart twins. And like them, he had a long record of run-ins with the law.
He had convictions for writing bad checks, domestic assault against a former girlfriend and possessing drug paraphernalia. He spent time in jail, as recently as last month. He had two convictions for drunken driving, and his license had long been suspended.
And his family said he didn't drive himself to the party that night because his beloved Honda Civic had been repossessed last week.
"He shouldn't have died," his mother, Linda Hurinenko of Algona, said. "If he hadn't had his car repo'ed, he wouldn't have gone with those people. That car was his pride and joy."
Her son was depressed about his legal trouble and only worked occasionally, she said.
But despite his troubles, Dupea had little trouble with women and a huge circle of friends.
Lately, Dupea had been dating 16-year-old Courtney Carlson of Auburn, who considered the relationship quite serious. They even talked about marriage. "I loved him with all my heart," she said yesterday. "We were inseparable. We were all together."
Rounding out the carload Monday night was Marcus Cooper, a 21-year-old who lived with his grandparents in a mobile-home park in Federal Way. His grandparents were on vacation in the Midwest.
As mourners gathered at the scene of the crash, many wept, remembering their close friends and relatives. Others who didn't know the dead came just to pay their respects.
"That's why I always tell people, 'Don't drink and drive,' " said 16-year-old Jessica Roberts of Algona, who left one rose for each of the dead. "I've had other friends die of the same reason."
Kim Hutchcroft said her teenage son had begged her to be allowed to go to the party. Her daughter and niece wanted to go, too. She didn't let them.
"They ended up not being there," she said, sobbing. "Thank God."