GhLinks Media
A devastating car crash took the lives of three recent high school graduates who were on their way home from watching their alma mater’s basketball game.
Ava Wolfe, Jayden Butterfield and Violet Corrado were passengers in a 2025 Toyota Corolla that was heading southbound along US highway 54 in western Missouri at around 8pm on Friday when the unidentified 49-year-old driver drove past a stop sign and hit a GMC Terrain heading eastbound.
The force of the impact caused the Corolla to travel off the road, strike a fence and then a tree, according to KSDK.
The driver of the SUV, a 38-year-old man who has not yet been publicly identified, also died in the collision – which occurred two miles south of the small town of Walker.
Both vehicles were a total loss, with officials noting that only four of the 10 people involved in the collision were wearing seatbelts.
In addition to the deceased, four passengers inside the SUV – two 16-year-old girls from Osceola, an 18-year-old woman and a 39-year-old woman – suffered injuries ranging from minor to serious and the 38-year-old driver of the Corolla was also seriously injured.
They were all taken to local hospitals, as emergency responders pronounced Wolfe, Butterfield and Corrado dead just before 11pm.
Police did not identify the victims, but the Climax Springs school district announced on Facebook that Wolfe, Butterfield and Corrado were all recent graduates.
