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Five of Ashley Troester's friends react Sunday outside University Medical Center after learning the 16-year-old died from injuries she suffered in Thursday's crash. Seventeen-year-old Natasha Keeter also was killed in the crash. The girls used markers to write messages on their hands in memory of their friends. Ashley Troester Sophomore loved clothes and dreamed of becoming a model Friends of Las Vegas High School student Ashley Troester comfort each other Sunday at the East Sahara Avenue site where Troester and four other girls were involved in a car accident Thursday. Photos by John Locher/Review-Journal

Monday, May 13, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Driver in crash of five teens dies

Three survivors of accident near Las Vegas High remain hospitalized

A car crash that killed a high school student last week claimed a second life Sunday when the vehicle's 16-year-old unlicensed driver died from her injuries.

Las Vegas High School student Ashley Troester, who had been on life support since Thursday's accident, died at University Medical Center on Sunday morning, a nursing supervisor said.

The lunchtime accident on East Sahara Avenue instantly killed Troester's friend, 17-year-old Natasha Keeter, and hospitalized Troester and the three passengers with life-threatening injuries. The three survivors remained hospitalized Sunday.

About 5:30 p.m. Sunday, students mourning outside the hospital remembered Troester, a sophomore, as a funny, outgoing girl who so dreamed of becoming a model that she toted head shots with her everywhere she went.

They said Troester, widely known at their school as the only student who wore high heels every day, had an exotic yet keenly focused sense of fashion. She loved clothes, they said, nearly as much as she relished the attention her stunning looks drew her from male classmates.

"She had like 80 boyfriends," her friend Laura Vila, 16, said.

"That's an exaggeration," 15-year-old Crystal Jimenez said. "It was more like 25."

Students said Troester's looks were not the only attribute that induced adoration from boys. They said she was equally loved for her easygoing personality and ability to have fun in almost any situation.

Las Vegas police said the five girls were racing back to campus about 11:20 a.m. after lunch at a nearby Burger King. Troester's Ford Thunderbird was traveling about 60 mph in a 45 mph zone when she lost control along a curvy stretch of road, police said.

The Thunderbird skidded more than 200 feet before striking a metal light pole and shearing into two pieces. It took firefighters more than 45 minutes to extricate the survivors from the wreckage.

The conditions of the three survivors remained unchanged Sunday. Ashley Biersach, 16, was listed in critical condition; Kiley Quinn, 15, remained in serious condition; and Aleisa Valdez, 15, was in fair condition.

Valdez, the least-seriously injured of the girls, broke her clavicle as well as a leg, hip and ankle, and suffered neck injuries, said her father, Rob Valdez.

Detective Doug Nutton confirmed Friday that Troester was driving without a license. Nutton said investigators believe her father allowed that practice.

More than 10 of the teen-agers outside the hospital Sunday said in interviews that the practice of driving without a license is rampant among students at their school.

Seven teen-agers admitted to driving without a license, saying the practice brings a sense of adventure.

"It's exciting when you see a cop, and you're wondering if they're going to pull you over," said one girl, who requested anonymity. "When they don't, it's like you just barely escaped something."

Many of the students said they haven't driven illegally since Thursday because they were so shaken by the fatal accident. But two unlicensed teen-agers admitted driving to the hospital Sunday.

Serene Lindsay, a 16-year-old friend of the five victims, said she was driving directly behind the Thunderbird when it careened across the road and crashed into the pole.

After slamming on her brakes and calling 911, Lindsay ran to her friends.

"It was like a driver's ed movie. It was unreal," she said minutes after learning of Troester's death. "Ashley (Biersach) was gasping for air."

Student Lori Valiente, a passenger in Lindsay's car, said Biersach and Valdez were the only ones conscious after the crash.

"You couldn't even see Kiley," Valiente said.

"Ashley (Biersach) was screaming so loud," Lindsay said. "She was saying, `I can't feel my legs!' "

Biersach, the only victim flown by helicopter to the hospital, had a leg amputated.

None of the mourners gathered outside the medical center has seen the hospitalized teen-agers because only family members are allowed visits. Several of the students who have spoken to the three survivors' parents said none of the victims has been told Keeter and Troester are dead.

Hundreds of students went to the crash site Friday night to memorialize Keeter and pray for Troester. On Sunday, cards, candles, balloons, stuffed animals and a giant mound of flowers still surrounded the lamppost.

The students outside the hospital Sunday said they planned to return to the makeshift memorial at 8 p.m. today in tribute to Troester.

Two of the girls said they bonded with Troester two years ago, when they all tried out for the freshman cheerleading squad and were passed over.

"We were all in the bathroom crying together," Valiente said, laughing through her tears. "We became friends, and we called ourselves `The Rejects' as a joke."

The students laughed as they recalled some of Troester's most exotic tastes, including leopard-print seat covers in her car and "dreadfully" bright red, white and blue bedsheets.

Many of Troester's and Keeter's friends came together to make cards and bring flowers Sunday to the mothers of the hospitalized students.

"It's so terrible that they're spending Mother's Day this way," Valiente said.