Police are still trying to determine the cause of a two-car accident that killed Carey High School sophomore Austin Hennefer, 15, just after 7:30 a.m. Tuesday morning during a driver's education lesson. Hennefer was driving at the time of the accident and icy roads may have been a factor.
The tightly knit community of Carey is in mourning for the loss of one of its student-athletes. Hennefer was on the Carey School football team—wearing No. 37—and was set to act in a school play next week.
A Blaine County Sheriff's Office report released Wednesday states that the accident occurred on U.S. Highway 20 about a mile east of Stanton Crossing, in southern Blaine County. The site is west of the intersection with state Highway 75. The sheriff's report states that road conditions were icy at the time of the crash.
In fact, when first responders got the call about the accident with the driver's education car, ambulances were already in route to a rollover accident at Gannett Road and Highway 20 that was reported at 7:28 a.m. Two Wood River Fire & Rescue ambulances, ready and staffed, headed toward that scene but were then rerouted to the two-vehicle crash. A third ambulance responded and stayed with the rollover victim, who suffered no severe injuries, Operations Chief Jeff Nevins said.
According to the police report, the accident involved a 1993 Honda Accord driven by 45-year-old Gooding resident Sergio Lopez-Rodriguez and a 1996 Buick Century driven by Hennefer.
"Lopez-Rodriguez was the only occupant of the Honda," the report states. "The passengers in the Buick were 15-year-old Jennifer Mares of Picabo, who was seated in the back seat behind the driver, and 41-year-old Jeff Mecham, who was seated in the front passenger seat."
Mares, also a sophomore at Carey, was transported by helicopter from the crash scene to St. Luke's Magic Valley Regional Medical Center in Twin Falls and later moved to Boise for treatment. Initial reports indicated that Mares suffered a broken hip.
Mecham, a Carey teacher and the driving instructor, and Lopez-Rodriguez were initially transported by ambulance and later taken by helicopter to St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise. Hennefer died at the scene, the report states.
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Lopez-Rodriguez's condition at St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center was upgraded from critical to serious on Thursday. Mares is still being treated for injuries there.
The cast of a play titled "The Education of Angels," scheduled to be performed at the Carey School on Nov. 4-5, decided on Wednesday that the show would go on, even though the accident claimed their cast member and classmate, according to Ken Mecham, the director of the play and Jeff Mecham's father.
"I just met with the cast and they all felt like that's what Austin would want, and the message of the play would be appropriate to get out to the public right now," Mecham said. "Austin played the part of a minister. Ironically, this play is about death and surviving that."
Student Pierce Patterson will be taking Hennefer's place as the minister in the play.
Mecham returned from visiting his son in Boise on Wednesday. He said Jeff Mecham is recovering from a collapsed lung and damage to internal organs, but is no longer on a ventilator.
"Jeff's doing pretty well," he said. "He's still in the ICU unit, but should be out (Thursday). He will stay in the hospital for another seven to 10 days. We just appreciate all the support and e-mails we've gotten. It has been really helpful. We're a small, tight-knit community."
Hennefer, whose mother, Mary Ann Hennefer, is a special education teacher at the school alongside Jeff Mecham, was a running back and defensive player at the last junior-varsity football game against Lighthouse Christian School in Twin Falls. The football team has ordered blue-and-gold patches, which they stitched on their uniforms to wear for Thursday night's game against Richfield High School, said Carey High School Principal John Peck.
"The patches say 'Hennefer, No. 37—always a Panther,'" Peck said.
"Everyone is doing a lot better today than they were yesterday," the principal said Wednesday. "It's still pretty solemn. He was well-liked and a great kid from a great family.
"His mom works here at the school. In a small school, we're like a family. I told the kids today, 'You laugh together and you cry together. Everybody has to pull together, keep track of each other and make sure everyone is doing OK.'"
A memorial service for Hennefer is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 30, at 11 a.m. at the Carey LDS church.
Austin Hennefer, left, races for Carey in a track meet last spring.
