MANTUA, Box Elder County — It was getting late Friday and 9-year-old Hannah Roach still wasn't home. She had spent the day in Salt Lake City with her friend Kylee Andersen, who was dancing at the Festival of Trees.
Getting worried, mom Melea Roach called the Andersens. No answer.
Then Melea Roach and her husband, Brad, heard about an accident in Sardine Canyon.
A green Jeep. Only two survivors. A child flown to Primary Children's Medical Center.
Roach knew the Andersens had a green Jeep Cherokee. They would have been coming home that way.
They turned on the evening TV news to see mangled wreckage on U.S. 89/91 but heard no names. One call to Primary Children's Medical Center and they knew.
"I called the UHP and said, 'I really need to know if my daughter was in that car,"' Roach said.
She was put on hold, and seconds later Utah Highway Patrol troopers knocked on her door.
"That was probably the worst of it," Roach said, her voice breaking. "Just not knowing, then seeing, trying to piece it together. But they didn't know her last name, she didn't have any ID, (they thought she was) just part of their family. She loved them, they loved her."
Hannah Roach of Hyrum, and Kylee's parents, Curtis and Tami Andersen of Nibley, both 28, were killed in a head-on collision Friday night when a Chevy truck drifted across the road and into their lane around 7 p.m. on U.S. 89/91 near Mantua. All three were wearing seat belts.
Five-year-old Kylee, who was in a car seat, was flown to Primary Children's with skull-deep lacerations on her head and several broken bones, said her maternal uncle, Brady Thurston.
She's now in a full-body cast from the chest down with a broken right femur and left ankle and possibly broken wrists, Thurston said.
But, being a devoted older sister, one of her first questions after coming out of sedation was "Where's Jaxon?"
Her 2-year-old brother, Jaxon, who was also in a car seat, received only severe bruises in the crash. He was released Friday night to his maternal grandparents and is already behaving like a typical 2-year-old, Thurston said.
After the accident, family members began pouring in to help, Thurston said.
"(The family) is as good as they can be," Thurston said, his eyes filling with tears. "They're trying to be strong for the kids."
Saturday afternoon they gathered to tell Kylee who she had lost.
"She took it really well," Thurston said. "She's a very strong little girl."
Living arrangements haven't been decided yet, but Thurston emphasized that the children will have a constant source of love, support and protection.
Melea Roach described her daughter as an excellent student.
"She really liked drawing, she wrote a lot of little stories, she was just very caring," Roach said.
But Hannah's ultimate love was animals, especially horses and dogs. She wanted to be a veterinarian.
Now her grieving parents will bury their only child and try to cope. Roach's funeral is Wednesday at the Allen-Hall Mortuary in Logan at noon. A greeting period will begin at 10:30 a.m.
UHP's initial investigation found no indication of drugs or alcohol, but troopers believe the 18-year-old driver of the truck — a student at Utah State University from Brigham City — was driving fatigued or had fallen asleep. He received facial lacerations in the crash.
The case will be sent to the county attorney for potential charges, said UHP Sgt. Jeff Plank.
"It's scary, that canyon," Melea Roach said. "I know people who travel that canyon every day. You just don't think it will happen to you. Just hug your kids."
The Andersens both loved to play basketball and in the summer would set up hoops on their street, inviting their entire Nibley neighborhood to play 5-on-5, Thurston said.
Curtis Andersen, who grew up in Richmond, loved to hunt and fish and was focused on taking care of his family. Tami Andersen, of Hyrum, had been a reading coach until recently, Thurston said. Although she loved to work in the school, she decided she was needed more in the home.
"They were just two people trying to make a living ... do what's best for the kids," Thurston said. "They did a heck of a job doing it. We'll pick up where they left off."
How to help
A fund is being set up at the USU Community Credit Union in Logan for the Andersen children, and a fund for the Roach family has been organized through Wells Fargo.
E-mail: sisraelsen@desnews.com