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EAGLE MOUNTAIN — Friends and family are mourning the deaths of a young couple killed in a head-on crash early Wednesday.
Simon Olsen and Hailie Leeann Godfrey, both 18 and from Eagle Mountain, were in a Ford Focus when they were struck head-on at the intersection of state Route 73 and Ranches Parkway by a Ford F-250 that drifted over the center line about 2 a.m., according to Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Cannon.
Investigators say the dating couple died on impact.
The speed limit in that area is 55 mph.
The 20-year-old driver of the truck told deputies he did not remember what happened, Cannon said. He doesn't remember crossing into traffic or striking the vehicle. After the crash, the driver walked to a nearby convenience store and had the clerk call 911, Cannon said.
The driver was treated at the scene for a minor head injury.
There was no immediate evidence of drugs or alcohol being factors, according to Cannon. Investigators were looking Wednesday at the possibility of drowsy driving.
According to posts on social media from friends of the victims, Godfrey and Olsen were dating and were on their way home when they were hit and killed.
Godfrey graduated this year from Westlake High School in Saratoga Springs, where she was on the drill team, according to social media posts. Many of the pictures on her Facebook page are of her dancing.
"This breaks my heart. I love you Hailie Godfrey. Hailie was my little sister my senior year of high school when I was drill captain. I'll always be your big sister. Until we meet again," wrote one girl on Facebook.
Family friend Tara Howard set up a GoFundMe site in Godfrey's name on behalf of her family. Howard called Godfrey's death a "devastating loss" and said her "bags were packed to leave for college in just a few short hours."
"As a parent myself, I believe I speak for most, that we plan for bright futures and not unexpected tragedies," she in a statement on the website. "We hope and we pray that our babies are protected, and when one is lost far too soon, we all mourn together and lend what we can."
Olsen would have begun his senior year at Westlake High on Monday.
"He was 18 years old and full of so much life," wrote his cousin, Joe Clements, on a GoFundMe page created in his name.
Kelli Knight, a U.S. history teacher at Westlake High, was Godfrey's drill team coach.
"Hailie was good; Hailie was kind. She had a big heart and she was the type of good that you wanted to be," Knight said. "She was always quick-witted and had something sassy to say to you. She was very coachable. She was the type of person that was the first to jump up and help me with anything whenever I needed help."
Godfrey was also Knight's teacher assistant at one point. She recently finished dental assisting school at Mountainland Applied Technology College and was about to start attending Southern Utah University, Knight said.
"She was going places. She had goals and was career-driven and was ambitious," she said. "Her life was just beginning."
Knight broke the tragic news to many of Godfrey's former teammates at a regularly scheduled drill practice Wednesday morning.
"It’s one of the hardest things I’ve done as a coach (to) bring this kind of news to the team," she said.
The girls are leaning on each other to get through the "giant shock" of learning Godfrey has died, according to Knight.
"(There was) lots of hugging and lots of tears," she said.
Contributing: Sam Penrod
