I-40 crash in Holbrook: Details emerge on the victims
PHOENIX - It's been weeks since a deadly northern Arizona pileup in snowy conditions that killed five people, including a Scottsdale teenager, a New York resident and three members of a Colorado family who were on their way to the Valley for spring break.
What we know:
Three family members from Fort Collins, Colorado were among the five people killed in a multi-car crash on March 14 along I-40 near Holbrook in eastern Arizona.
They are Sophia Case, 17, and her parents, Sarah Case, 50, and Samuel Case, 51.
The family was traveling to Phoenix to spend spring break with their son, Montgomery, who attends GCU. Their other son, Keaton, was planning to fly in the next day.
Victims identified in deadly chain-reaction crash on I-40
Five people who were killed in a multi-vehicle crash along Interstate 40 in northern Arizona last week have been identified.
What they're saying:
Joe Packard is the athletic director of Heritage Christian Academy, where Sophia played basketball. He coached the teen and her brothers over the years.
"She was kind of that awkward uncoordinated girl when she started, but she really put in as much work and heart into being a basketball player as anybody on our team," Packard said.
He describes the moment he heard the news of the family's car crash.
"I honestly just fell down right where I was. I just fell down. You just think it can’t be possible. I think it takes a couple hours to even wrap your brain around something like that," Packard said.
Packard says he and his family drove to Flagstaff to be with Samuel in the hospital in the days until he died. Samuel's sons were also at Flagstaff Medical Center.
"They just stayed so calm the whole time they were in the hospital with their dad. They were certainly sad and heartbroken, but just so respectful and kind to the people in the hospital, the people that were just trying to take care of their dad. I just continued to tell them I’ve just been incredibly proud of them," Packard said.
He says the family played a big role in their school and their community. Sarah was a pre-k teacher for several years.
"Sarah has been our bookkeeper for the last four years at every basketball game. She was kind of our lead mom, and just got everything ready for any time we traveled or went anywhere. The last text I have from her is just this extensive list of things that she was packing and preparing for our last basketball trip," Packard said.
The coach says there was big news he never had a chance to tell Sophia.
"She earned all-league honors this year and I didn’t get to tell her that. I was waiting to tell the girls at our end-of-season banquet who made the all-league team," he said.
Several pastors and counselors have been spending time with students and faculty as they grieve.
"Just a very tight-knit family that did everything together here and even outside of here. When it comes to business, church, they were just always together and always fully integrated into everyone else’s activities, so it really is a huge, a huge loss," Packard said.
Local perspective:
Also killed in the pileup was 17-year-old Adam Mychajliw of Scottsdale.
He was a senior at Saguaro High School. The principal says another student was critically injured.
Arizona DPS says the driver of a tractor-trailer rear-ended a Cadillac Escalade, causing a chain-reaction crash in snowy conditions.
The victim from New York who died is Jeet Vikram, 34.
The crash remains under investigation.