The news that three popular Burlington area students had died in a fiery crash May 28 plunged the community into mourning.
Burlington High School juniors Jason Davis and Hunter Morby, both 17, and 2015 BHS graduate Landen Brown, 20, were killed when the car they were in collided with a tree and burst into flames in the Town of Lyons.
Davis was driving a family car with Morby in the front passenger seat and Brown in the back seat during the crash that occurred on Cranberry Road east of Berndt Road, according to investigators.
Sheriff’s officials said the three were in a 2003 Volkswagen Jetta that was traveling east on Cranberry Road at a high speed when it left the road and struck a tree in a ditch on the north side of the road. First responders, who were summoned at 7:01 p.m., found the car smashed against a tree fully engulfed in flames with all three occupants deceased.
The news was devastating for the community, but even more so for the friends and classmates of the students at Burlington High School.
A few days after the crash, the school hosted a communitywide gathering in which the students were memorialized and the collective grief was addressed.
“Burlington is hurting,” BHS teacher and Rescue Squad member Troy Everson said at the time. “There’s a huge void right now. The greatest resource any community has is its youth and its youth is hurting.”
However, given the level of support the community offered the families of the victims and the students who knew them, Everson said he was confident they would rebound.
“They need to know happiness is on the horizon.”
-
-
-
-
-