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Parts from a vehicle lie in a field along New Town Boulevard in St. Charles County just north of the New Town area on Friday, Feb. 17, 2023, as an Ameren crew replaces the utility pole that was damaged when a car carrying six teenagers veered off the road and crashed overnight, killing one.
Updated Saturday with information from City of St. Charles School District.
ST. CHARLES COUNTY — A vehicle carrying six teenagers crashed early Friday, killing a 16-year-old girl and injuring five others who were thrown from the vehicle.
The crash was at about 1:30 a.m. Friday on New Town Boulevard, west of Highway B in unincorporated St. Charles County.
Jaylynn Kuethe, of St. Charles, was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. The other five teenagers, all between the ages of 14 and 16, suffered non life-threatening injuries and were taken to trauma centers in St. Louis city or St. Louis County.
Cpl. Barry Bayles of the St. Charles County Police Department said none of the six teens was wearing a seat belt.
Kuethe was a St. Charles West High School student who attended the St. Charles School District’s Success Campus, according to a spokesman. The campus provides alternative schooling for students in the district.
This was the second fatal crash in 12 days involving several teens piled into a single vehicle. A Feb. 5 wreck in Lincoln County killed three teenagers and injured two when a 17-year-old driver lost control of the car, which went airborne and struck a tree.
Bayles said Friday’s crash also involved only the one vehicle, a Ford. A police crash-investigation unit is working to determine what led to the crash and other details, such as the car’s speed.
“They lost control and it appeared that all of them were ejected,” Bayles said. “I don’t know where they were coming from or where they were going.”
Police haven’t said which teen was driving, and it’s unclear if investigators will be able to determine that because all occupants were thrown from the vehicle. Sometimes investigators can tell who the driver was based on injuries.
The crash was in the 3000 block of New Town Boulevard, a straightaway with farm fields on both sides. It has a narrow shoulder and is lined by telephone poles on the south side of the road where the crash happened.
The vehicle slammed into a telephone pole and broke apart. Hours after the crash, a utility crew arrived to repair the pole and its downed power lines. An axle hub and other car parts were strewn in the field.
“It must have been flying,” a lineman directing traffic said of the vehicle.
A man who declined to give his name showed up at the crash site after noon Friday. He said his son was in the car and survived, and his sister-in-law was the girl who died. He was among a small group of people who walked into the field, picking up shoes and pieces of the car.
A man who declined to give his name, left, walks through a field where a vehicle crashed on New Town Boulevard on Friday, Feb. 17, 2023. The man said his son survived but his sister-in-law died. Photo by Christian Gooden, cgooden@post-dispatch.com
Bayles said a cellphone of one of the vehicle’s occupants detected the crash and sent coordinates to authorities. The scene is a short distance from the construction site of the new Orchard Farm High School on Highway B.
In a statement, the City of St. Charles School District said it was “extremely saddened by the loss of Jaylynn Kuethe.”
“Our hearts go out to the Kuethe family and to the families of other students in the vehicle,” the district said. “The City of St. Charles School District will do everything we can to help the Kuethe family moving forward from this unfathomable loss.”
Less than two weeks ago, a crash in Lincoln County killed three teenagers. About 4 a.m. on Feb. 5, a Sunday, a 17-year-old girl was driving a 2008 Ford Focus too fast for conditions on South Chantilly Road, northeast of Moscow Mills, police said. The vehicle went airborne, south of Ethington Road. It landed and skidded, then struck a tree and overturned, according to the Missouri Highway Patrol.
Three passengers were pronounced dead at the scene of the Lincoln County wreck: William Flickinger, 18, of Troy, Missouri; Emily McNees, 17; and Kaeden Tyler, 15.
Missouri has a graduated drivers license law. During the first six months of driving, a teen driver can only have one passenger who is younger than 19 and not an immediate family member. After the first six months of driving, the teen driver can’t have more than three passengers who are younger than 19 and not immediate family members. Cpl. Dallas Thompson of the Missouri Highway Patrol said immediate family is defined as siblings, but not cousins.
Those restrictions go away once the driver reaches the age of 18.
“We know that probably gets violated often, especially with high school kids, athletes because they’re picking up their buddies, taking them to practice or home from school,” Thompson said. “It’s kind of one of those things that is really up to the parents to monitor that and to make sure their kids are in compliance with the law as well as just being safe.”
A man who declined to give his name, left, retrieves shoes that he recognized from a field where a vehicle crashed on New Town Boulevard on Friday, Feb. 17, 2023, in St. Charles County. The man said his son survived the crash but his sister-in-law died.
A piece of a car lies in a field with other vehicle debris along New Town Boulevard in St. Charles County just north of the New Town area on Friday, Feb. 17, 2023, as an Ameren crew replaces the utility pole that was damaged when a car carrying six teenagers veered off the road and crashed overnight, killing one of them. Photo by Christian Gooden, cgooden@post-dispatch.com
Christian Gooden and Dana Rieck of the Post-Dispatch staff contributed to this report.
Weekly updates highlighting our coverage of police protests and the government’s response to the calls for reform.
Kim Bell is a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
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Parts from a vehicle lie in a field along New Town Boulevard in St. Charles County just north of the New Town area on Friday, Feb. 17, 2023, as an Ameren crew replaces the utility pole that was damaged when a car carrying six teenagers veered off the road and crashed overnight, killing one.
A man who declined to give his name, left, walks through a field where a vehicle crashed on New Town Boulevard on Friday, Feb. 17, 2023. The man said his son survived but his sister-in-law died. Photo by Christian Gooden, cgooden@post-dispatch.com
A man who declined to give his name, left, retrieves shoes that he recognized from a field where a vehicle crashed on New Town Boulevard on Friday, Feb. 17, 2023, in St. Charles County. The man said his son survived the crash but his sister-in-law died.
A piece of a car lies in a field with other vehicle debris along New Town Boulevard in St. Charles County just north of the New Town area on Friday, Feb. 17, 2023, as an Ameren crew replaces the utility pole that was damaged when a car carrying six teenagers veered off the road and crashed overnight, killing one of them. Photo by Christian Gooden, cgooden@post-dispatch.com
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St. Charles County crash kills teenage girl, injures 5 others thrown … – St. Louis Post-Dispatch
