A small monument constructed of flowers, hand-written letters, photos, and teddy bears still marks the site of a fatal accident along SR-138 in Stansbury Park. It’s an emotional reminder of three friends who died when the vehicle they were traveling in was hit head on by an approaching car Saturday afternoon.

Just after 3:45 p.m., Jacob White, 18, of Stansbury Park, was traveling eastbound on the state road when the white 2007 Ford 500 he was driving drifted into the opposite lane near the Benson Grist Mill, striking a 1991 white Dodge Spirit head on, according to Sgt. Bob Gutierrez, of the Utah Highway Patrol.

The impact caused the Ford to spin 180 degrees in a clockwise motion and left the Dodge backwards off the side of the road — both severely mangled.

“[The vehicles] didn’t go far after impact — maybe 15 feet,” Gutierrez said.

All three occupants of the Dodge — Kendra Naisbitt, 23, of Bluffdale, Bailey Corless, 17 of Grantsville, and Taft Ahlstrom, 20, of Grantsville — were pronounced dead on scene. Gutierrez said the three were friends. Corless and Ahlstrom worked together at Macey’s Food and Drug in Tooele.

Fire crews had to use extrication equipment to cut into both vehicles to free all four victims.

White, who was the only person wearing a seat belt properly at the time of the accident, was air-lifted to University Hospital with serious leg and torso injuries.

Gutierrez said Naisbitt, who was driving the Dodge, was wearing a seat belt, however, the shoulder strap was wrapped around behind her.

“She was only wearing the lap portion,” Gutierrez said. “Taft and Bailey were not wearing seat belts.”

Gutierrez believes that the use of a seat belt by White, combined with the larger size of the vehicle he was driving and the deployment of airbags, proved to be life-savers.

“We don’t know exactly what speed the vehicles were traveling without doing some further investigation,” Gutierrez said. “But I’m guessing they were both traveling 65 mph. That was a pretty severe impact. One of the worst ones I’ve seen.”

Both lanes of SR-138 were closed for three hours, while crews surveyed and cleaned up the scene.

“We didn’t find any evidence of drugs of alcohol at the scene,” Gutierrez said. “Although preliminary right now, we believe Mr. White fell asleep and drifted onto oncoming traffic.”

Such action could result in criminal charges, Gutierrez said, but the ongoing investigation will take six to eight weeks to finalize.

“We are waiting for toxicology reports to come back on both drivers,” Gutierrez said. “That will tell us a lot and make sure there wasn’t anything in their systems. Once we get everything put together then information will be referred to the county attorney’s office for screening.”

Jamie Belnap: jamieb@tooeletranscript.com