BCHS mourns crash victims

A school community is mourning the loss of two Danville teenagers who were killed along with the grandmother of one of the students in a Saturday night crash.
Boyle County Deputy Coroner Mike Wilder said MacKenzie Weddle and her boyfriend, Mason Steigerwald, both 16, and Steigerwald’s grandmother, Marie Baker, 73, were all pronounced dead at the scene of the crash.
State police said the vehicle driven by Steigerwald was headed south on Stewarts Lane about 6 p.m. and failed to stop at a stop sign at the intersection with Alum Springs Road.
Police said a Jeep Cherokee driven by Boyle resident Bethany Gengelbach, 21, was westbound on Alum Springs and struck the driver side door of Steigerwald’s vehicle as it passed through the intersection. Both vehicles came to a rest on the south shoulder of Alum Springs Road.
The drivers and passengers in both cars were wearing seatbelts, the police report said. Boyle Sheriff Marty Elliott said Gengelbach and her passenger, Jason Turner, were treated at Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center and released Saturday night.
Elliott, who called the crash “unsurvivable,” said it was a difficult scene even for seasoned emergency personnel.
“You look and see that these are just children, just like your own,” Elliott said. “We don’t expect any drugs or alcohol or anything like that. They were were just two good kids, and his grandmother was there with them.”
Weddle and Steigerwald were both students at Boyle County High School, where counselors and administrators will visit each classroom today, offering their support and services to grieving students, Principal Will Begley said.
Those having difficulty coping will be allowed to leave class and go to designated grieving areas, including the cafeteria, where staff will be on hand for consoling.
Front office employees also began collecting donations for two trees to be planted on school grounds in memory of Steigerwald and Weddle.
In the meantime, classmates held a silent memorial of their own.
Students found out through Facebook that Steigerwald’s and Weddle’s favorite colors were purple and black and wore the colors in their honor today, Begley said.
“They were good kids who obviously had a lot of friends,” he said. “Lots of purple and black in the hallways today.”
Begley said this is the first time in his six years at BCHS that the school has lost current students, and the faculty, staff and students are mourning with Steigerwald’s and Weddle’s families.
“It’s really quiet in our hallways,” he said.
A funeral service for Weddle will be 2 p.m. Wednesday at Bartle Funeral Home in Liberty with burial in Brush Creek Cemetery.
Visitation will be 4-9 p.m. Tuesday at the funeral home.
Funeral details for Steigerwald and Baker have not been set, but Wilder said their remains were sent to Kerr Brothers Funeral Home in Lexington.