High school cheerleader, 15, killed in car crash that injures fellow teen driver: ‘We still love her and she’ll never be forgotten’

Taylor Darveau, a freshman at Bucksport High School in Maine, was killed after the car she was in, driven by Samantha Goode, 16, veered off the road and struck a tree.

Taylor Darveau, a 15-year-old high school freshman, was killed Thursday evening when her vehicle driven by a friend left the road and crashed into a tree after a school dinner.

A 15-year-old cheerleader was tragically killed on her way home from a high school dinner when her vehicle driven by a friend suddenly veered off the road.

Taylor Darveau, a freshman at Bucksport High School in Maine, was killed after the car driven by Samantha Goode, 16, smashed into a roadside tree Thursday evening.

The two girls had just attended a dinner for their school’s football players and cheerleaders when around 6:20 p.m. police say their 1999 Subaru station wagon left the road in Bucksport.

“It’s gut wrenching. I really just, words can’t describe what it is,” Ryan Grindle, one of many high school students who gathered at the crash site Friday told WABI.

One witness who rushed to the scene described the wreck as being instantaneously covered in smoke after the vehicle plunged into a ditch.

WABI TV

The cause of the tragic crash that killed a teen are still under investigation, say authorities.

“I kind of did a double take. Between the time it took me to immediately look away and look back, the car was in the ditch. A lot of smoke, so I ran after it,” the unidentified man told the station.

 

Both girls were rushed to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor where Darveau was pronounced dead. The driver’s condition was not immediately disclosed by police Sunday.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation.

Less than 24 hours later a memorial by friends was set up around the crash site, drawing flowers and pink and purple balloons said to show her favorite colors.

On the wrists of Darveau’s friends were handmade bracelets as well.

WABI TV

The teen is being remembered as an active member of her school, having been part of both its cheerleading team and its wrestling program which she intended to help manage.

“We just put them on our wrist to show that we still love her and she’ll never be forgotten,” a friend told WLBZ.

The high school freshman is being remembered as not only an active member of her school’s cheerleading program but its wrestling program as well.

According to Matthrew Steward, a high school junior and friend of Darveau’s family, the teen was expected to help manage the wrestling team this year.

He now calls her loss one that will long impact not just her friends and family but her entire community.

“It’s been hard. I think it’s been hard for all of us. Just because she had a big life ahead of her and she was going to manage our wrestling team,” he told WABI.