Lone survivor and victims’ families grieve loss of teenagers killed in crash
Originally Published: 07 APR 26 14:28 ET
By Caroleina Hassett
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RIVERTON, Utah (KSTU) -- Three families are now picking up the pieces after a devastating car crash in Juab County.
“It's been unfathomable. I mean, it's just been something that is the worst nightmare you could ever go through,” said Ava’s father, Aaron Olivarez. “My heart just absolutely breaks for Xander and Ava. I mean, I don't know how I'm going to move on.”
Last Thursday, 17-year-old Ava Olivarez was driving 15-year-old Xander Hover and 15-year-old Corey Wayman along Weiss Highway when they came up to a turn.
“She turned too wide and it was all silent. Next thing you know, I was on the floor looking at the roof, and it blacked out, and then I woke up with paramedics around me,” Wayman said.
The three teens, all from the Riverton area, were ejected from the car. Wayman was the only one to wake up.
“I don't think it's fully hit me yet,” Wayman said. "I hate to think about it, because they're my best friends, best ones I've ever had… The thought that I was with them and they're gone and I'm still here — sucks.”
All three met through the racing community and were attached at the hip.
“That gives me comfort... just the three of them, they were together,” said Xander’s dad, Jessie Hover. "They were inseparable in life and would talk on the phone and joke around. I mean, it was the old married couple kind of, is what it seemed like to us.”
The families just want parents to educate their kids on seatbelt safety, so no child has to become a memory.
“The most heart-wrenching thing right now is we all taught our kids to wear seat belts,” Olivarez said. "Ava was so insistent on always having a seat belt on, and that's the thing that we have to talk about here is just keeping our kids safe because it only takes that one second."
“Buckle up and always be cautious, because I don't know how, but it's a miracle that I'm here today. I'm standing here; the other two aren’t,” Wayman added.
Every parent had an answer to the question: how do you want your child to be remembered?
“For exactly who she was: a champion. She was a fierce competitor on one hand, [but] she was so good to people. She treated people so well, and just had a genuine love for people,” Aaron Olivarez said through tears.
While Wayman still has a long road to recovery with a broken collarbone, broken nose and brain bleeding, he believes there’s a reason why he’s still here.
“Everybody's told me that there's a reason I lived. I think it's, don't know what it is yet, but it's probably just to carry on Xander and Ava's legacy,” he said.
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