4 student deaths in 6 weeks pain SV's Buena High

The most recent death occurred about 2:15 Monday morning, when 17-year-old Tiffany Elaine LeTexier apparently took her own life, stepping into the path of an oncoming car along Arizona 92. She died at nearly the exact spot where her boyfriend, 18-year-old Joshua Allen Clark, died on July 20, when his car was broadsided during a heavy rainstorm.

LeTexier had been distraught since the death of Clark, friends and family members say, and her despair deepened last weekend when two more friends — 15-year-old Keane Moss and 19-year-old James DeAnda — died when the motorized dirt bikes they were riding crashed into each other.

"I went to James' funeral on Friday and now I can't cry anymore. I'm just so numb," said Kristen Griggs, 17, a Buena senior who knew all four of the deceased students. "My friends in our group, we're watching out for each other."

Griggs had been with LeTexier the night she died. The girls had been at a friend's home comforting each other. LeTexier disappeared in the middle of the night, walking about 2 miles to the scene where her boyfriend died.

Sierra Vista Public Schools went into crisis mode last weekend after learning about the deaths of Moss and DeAnda, said Susan Willig, a counselor at Buena High School and director of the district's Crisis Response Team.

Willig said the students were all well-liked and known throughout Sierra Vista, a city of about 42,000 anchored by the U.S. Army's Fort Huachuca. About 2,800 students attend Buena High School.

"We came to school right away, and contacted the teachers of the students directly affected so that they would be prepared to be as compassionate and understanding as possible," Willig said. "When we learned about another death on Monday, that was unexpected, certainly."

Categorizing the death toll as "mass casualty," Willig says in her three years with the district she cannot recall any tragedy of similar magnitude.

"This has been very hard for the kids. When the two boys crashed, that compounded what happened with Josh. Then with Tiffany, it was like being put down for the count," Buena principal Tad Bloss said. "They were just a big, tight group of friends, really loyal friends, and a lot of them are not taking it well."

Buena made counselors available to students and their families all week.

"Monday was not a good educational day," Bloss said. "We've been trying to keep things as ordinary as possible and still meet the needs of our students. But it's been a solemn week."

The school has posted tips about coping with grief and identifying stress on its Web site for both parents and students.

"Tiffany was on the girls soccer team and other athletes knew her as well. She was a very likable, friendly person, and that has certainly affected a lot of kids," Bloss said.

The teens' friends have erected two memorials for them — one large, wooden cross for Moss and DeAnda on Bevers Street, near the site of their crash, and another on Highway 92 near Yaqui Street near the spot where both Clark and LeTexier died.

LeTexier's soccer teammates put up a goalpost and signed a soccer ball. Several Sierra Vista teens have sprayed "RIP" messages for their friends on their cars.

"Who didn't like Tiffany? She was really popular, even though she'd only just moved here in October," said 15-year-old Buena student Mary Stryker, whose father is dating Tiffany's mother. "We're all in shock."

Stryker said LeTexier and Clark had been dating for seven months and were deeply in love. They had talked about moving to Kentucky together, and getting married one day.

Clark, Moss and DeAnda shared a passion for motocross. Two years ago, Clark helped organize a race that raised $2,500 for victims of Hurricane Katrina, said his mother, Jennifer Clark.

Moss, who appeared much younger than his 15 years, had earned the nickname "Moss the Boss," and DeAnda was an easygoing leader, a teen who worked in construction and paid for his own big, lifted-up truck, Griggs said.

The deaths remain under investigation. Arizona Department of Public Safety Officer Joy Craig said that since LeTexier didn't leave a note, her death can't be ruled a suicide.

But Craig confirmed that the teen stepped in front of an oncoming car and that the driver of the car who hit her — a nurse on her way to work at Tucson Medical Center — is not being faulted.

LeTexier's family and friends say her death was intentional. In the days before she died, LeTexier wrote increasingly distraught messages on Clark's MySpace account.

"I'm worried about a chain reaction," said Pamela Jean "P.J." LeTexier, 46, who held a memorial for her only child at her home Saturday.

Tiffany would have turned 18 on Nov. 17 — a day that's also her mother's birthday.

"She's always been my gift from God," said P.J. LeTexier, who gave birth to Tiffany while stationed as a naval officer in Bermuda. Mother and daughter have since moved around to Washington state, where Tiffany's father lives, and to Montana, where they had most recently lived.

Tiffany's mother has barely slept since Monday. She has devoted her time to building a small shrine to her daughter, including old photos and a painting that Tiffany once made for her titled, "Everything's possible if you give your mom flowers."

Though she knew her daughter was troubled over the deaths, particularly over Clark, LeTexier said she didn't realize the severity of Tiffany's pain.

"This isn't romantic at all. It's tragic," she said. "God forbid it would happen to anyone else. We don't want that. We've got to take care of these kids."

Recent tragedies involving Buena High School students:

• Senior Tiffany Elaine LeTexier, 17, died early Monday morning, apparently taking her own life as she stepped in the path of a car on Arizona 92 in Sierra Vista near the location where her boyfriend, Joshua Allen Clark, died in July.

• Sophomore Keane Moss, 15, and former student James DeAnda, 19, died sometime during the night either Aug. 24 or Aug. 25 when the dirt bikes they were riding collided head-on south of Sierra Vista.

• Recent graduate Joshua Allen Clark, 18, died in the early evening of July 20 after the car he was driving was broadsided as he made a turn during a heavy rainstorm on Highway 92 near Yaqui Street in Sierra Vista.

• Stacy Hemesath and John Cooper, both 18-year-old seniors, died in a rollover on Interstate 10 just west of Benson in May 1998.

• Buena's prom king-to-be, Frederick Spencer IV, died in April 2004 after the car his mother was driving collided with a pickup truck on Tacoma Street in Sierra Vista.

• Army Spc. Michael M. Merila, a 1998 graduate, died in Iraq in February, 2004. He was 23.

• Sophomore Cornell Forbes, 15, died in January 2000 after the car he was riding in rolled over on a highway east of Bisbee. One other person, 20-year-old Samantha Simoneau, died in the crash. Seven others in the vehicle were injured.

Source: Arizona Daily Star archives