(September 8, 2008)—Waco police determined Monday that an SUV in which two China Spring High School seniors were returning home from the Richland Mall jumped a median barrier on Highway 6 Sunday night and slammed head on into an oncoming pickup truck in which a Waco couple was driving home from Clifton.
The driver of the SUV, Samantha Buis, 17, of China Spring and her passenger, Donovan Rodriguez, 17, also of China Spring were pronounced dead at the scene.
Police said both were thrown from the vehicle.
They both worked at the J. C. Penney store at the mall and were returning home at the end of the workday around 8:30 p.m., police said.
The driver of the pick-up, Richard Howeth, 66, and his wife, Mary Howeth, 67, both of Waco, were also pronounced dead at the scene.
Witnesses told officers Sunday night that Howeth’s Chevrolet pickup crossed the median and crashed into the Toyota 4-Runner that Buis was driving.
But after investigators talked with the victims’ families early Monday morning, they determined that just the opposite had happened.
Investigators don’t know why the SUV crossed into the oncoming lane, however.
The collision left the vehicles almost unrecognizable.
Authorities closed the highway to traffic in both directions through the night and into the early morning hours while Department of Public Safety investigators assisted Waco police in reconstructing.
Grief counselors were available Monday at China Spring High School, where classmates learned of the deaths of the two students.
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