3 High School Students Killed, 2 Hurt in Car Crash on Simi Valley Freeway

Three Ventura County high school classmates died and two other teen-agers were injured when their car veered off the Simi Valley Freeway and struck a storage tank, the California Highway Patrol reported.

Officers said the car carrying the Thousand Oaks High School students was going 65 m.p.h. when it went out of control Saturday night just east of Stearns Street in Simi Valley.

Officials said three of the youths died at Simi Valley Adventist Hospital. They included the driver, Christen Edwards, 16, and passengers Gail Coddle, 17, and Nicole Yates, 16. Michelle Vucobich, 14, was in serious condition and Eric Valance, 16, was in fair condition.

Shawn Valance, 18, brother of the injured youth, said he was in a pickup truck ahead of the car that crashed.

“I looked back and saw her (Edwards) swerve,” Valance said. “At first I thought she was just goofing around. Then they went completely off the road.”

He said some members of the group had been drinking at a friend’s home, but when it came time to leave, they had chosen the drivers of the two vehicles on the basis of who was fit to drive.