Three Seneca Valley students die after crash into lake
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Divers search the Zelienople-Harmony Sportsmen Club's lake, looking for victims of the incident on Wednesday.
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Spencer Mathew was uneasy as the Zelienople Volunteer Fire Department's regular weekly meeting started Tuesday evening and two of his friends, fellow firefighters, were not there.
Spencer would later learn that his two friends and classmates, Elijah Lunsford and Sam Bucci, as well as a third teen, Trevor Barkley, were killed, possibly around the time of the firefighters' 7 p.m. meeting, when the SUV they were riding in crashed upside-down in icy water near the shore of a shallow lake off Route 68 in Zelienople.
"I last saw them Monday. We had a half day of school and we came here to hang out," Spencer said. "When they didn't show up [for the meeting], I just had an eerie feeling that something was wrong."
Trevor, 17, and Sam and Elijah both 18, were schoolmates in the Class of 2010 at Seneca Valley High School. Spencer and Sam, friends since about third grade, joined the fire company in their early teens as junior firefighters. Elijah, under Spencer's influence, joined the department later.
On Wednesday night, the five-bay fire station that had been like a second home to the young firefighters was a place of mourning. More than 50 volunteers from surrounding communities joined a dozen students and parents there to remember the teens and share their grief.
Firefighter Jacob Reeb, 19, said Sam and Elijah liked the camaraderie, the adrenaline rush that came with the call-outs, and helping others.
The 48-member company was like a family, said Mr. Reeb, whose father, Fire Chief Rob Reeb, said Sam and Elijah were like sons to him.
"They were definitely assets. They were like family down here. They were like our sons," Chief Reeb said.
Only hours earlier, the Ford Explorer that the three teens were riding in was found, at 5:01 a.m. Wednesday, about 40 feet off Ben Venue Road.
A short time after the meeting, firefighters, families and girlfriends made calls to the cell phones of the missing teens. The calls were not answered.
First Published January 28, 2010 12:00 am
