Crashes claim man’s friend, ex-girlfriend

SPARKS -- A 21-year-old man is trying to come to grips with a double tragedy: separate traffic accidents that killed a childhood friend and his former girlfriend within hours of each other in Northern Nevada.

The mourner, Jasin Richards of Sparks, escaped with minor injuries in one of the accidents. His car crashed early Saturday in his hometown, killing his passenger and friend, Jonathan Query, 19, of Reno.

Several hours later, Richards' former girlfriend, Hannah Puente, 19, of Reno, was killed in a single-vehicle rollover on Interstate 80 near Wells, about 350 miles east of Sparks.

"I'm just in shock," Richards told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "This happened within hours. It's all very traumatic."

Puente and Joshua Warner, 21, of Carson City, were returning from a Thanksgiving trip to Wyoming when Warner's vehicle drifted off the roadway and overturned. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.

In the earlier accident, police said a preliminary investigation found Richards was drag racing another car when his car struck a pickup at an intersection. Richards denied he was racing.

Investigators said they're trying to determine who had the green light when Richards' car and the pickup collided. No citations have been issued.