Cottage Grove teenager dies in crash on London Road.

Byline: Andrea Damewood and Tim Christie The Register-Guard

COTTAGE GROVE - The site of a fatal accident became an impromptu place of mourning Saturday after one teenager was killed and four other young people were critically injured when their car struck a large tree off London Road.

The driver, 18-year-old Ashly Jo Rogers, was pronounced dead at the scene, the Lane County sheriff's office said.

Friends left a 5-foot-high cross, wreaths and roses along a fence by the tree, where blue paint chips, broken glass and pieces of the car served as reminders of the crash on a road that has claimed at least seven lives in the past four years.

They gathered to remember Rogers, who graduated from Kennedy Alternative High School in Cottage Grove in February.

"She was more like a sister than my best friend, but she was also my best friend," 19-year-old Kristy Houtz said. "She was outgoing, and friends with everybody - didn't matter who you were. She was helping and caring."

The accident occurred about 12:30 a.m. Saturday on London Road near Cottage Grove Lake, the sheriff's office said. The 1994 Ford Escort driven by Rogers left the road following a sharp curve and struck a tree head-on.

Four of the passengers were in critical condition in the intensive care unit at Sacred Heart Medical Center: Justin Tyler Raines, 18; Danyelle Vriesman, 19; Molly Patricia Walters, 20; and Dawn Nicole Paullin, 18. Friends said Raines suffered head trauma, Paullin had a broken neck and Vriesman had gone through several surgeries for her injuries.

The fifth passenger, 19-year-old Lindsay Leigh-Anne Pique, was treated and released.

The sheriff's office said alcohol and speed may have contributed to the accident, and that Rogers may have been talking on a cell phone at the time of the crash. Seat belts were in use, but there were more passengers than seat belts. Officials said one passenger was in the lap of another in the back seat.

Houtz said Rogers and her passengers had been at a party before the accident and may have been on their way to another when they crashed.

`She called to say she was going to a party, and when I asked if she'd been drinking, she said yes,' Houtz said, her voice cracking. "I told her to pull over. She passed the phone to somebody, and it went out, and I guess they wrecked."

Rogers had purchased the Ford Escort less than one month ago, said the teen's mother, Shanon Rogers.

"She was a very big-hearted, wonderful girl that everyone loved," Rogers said as she waited in the intensive care unit at Sacred Heart with the victims' families. "She's my rock."

Ashly Jo Rogers, a 6-foot-2-inch teenager with long, curly hair that she wore in a bun, was the family's oldest child, Shanon Rogers said. Her two brothers, David, 17, and Justin, 15, both attend school in Cottage Grove.

Her daughter loved swimming, her friends and all kinds of music, Rogers said. "She was a water dog," she said, adding that she will spread some of her daughter's ashes in the woods. "We all loved the mountains and the woods."

Since graduation, she had worried her mother with her frequent partying, but recently she talked about going out less and of becoming a certified nursing assistant.

The driver and her five passengers were close friends. Rogers and Vriesman - who was believed to be the front-seat passenger - were planning on sharing an apartment, Rogers' mother said. Raines, a 2006 graduate of Cottage Grove High School; Vriesman and Rogers were co-workers at the local Burger King.

Rogers, Pique and Walters were going to walk together at graduation in June, said South Lane District Superintendent Krista Parent.

The victims have siblings at five different schools, and the district will provide each with councilors and safe rooms for students and teachers who need help.

"Ashly was very well liked," Assistant Superintendent Julia De Pauw said. "It's going to be a heavy impact on Monday."

Former classmate Ashleigh Mathews said Rogers would always finish her assignments at least a day before they were due.

"She was really intelligent," she said. "She would always help me if I needed help. I've never had someone be that nice to me."

Those at the roadside memorial cried, embraced and registered disbelief that their friend was gone.

"That's pieces of her car, but it isn't true. I heard it on the scanner, but it isn't true," said 18-year-old Erika Vaughn, who had known Rogers for 14 years. "There was no one in this town that she was enemies with. She was always happy, no matter what she was going through. Most of the time, she put her friends first."

The family plans to hold a public memorial service.

Rogers' death brings to at least seven the number of Cottage Grove residents who have died in accidents on London Road since 2003.

In January, Shirley Ann Black, 68, died after hitting a power pole. In October 2004, Charlie Dwight Cook Jr., 30, died after his vehicle left the road and sheered off a power pole. In April 2003, Julie Foerstler, 38, and her two children, 12-year-old Matthew and 9-year-old Amanda, died after their Subaru slid off the road, down an embankment and into a muddy creek. In February 2003, Dave Gilbert McCoy, 46, died when his pickup truck left the road and rolled, ejecting him from the vehicle.