Deer Valley students mourn classmates killed in bus crash

Hundreds of Deer Valley High School students gathered at a makeshift memorial in front of the school’s gymnasium this morning, a quiet sadness looming over the somber crowd.

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Many students wept and clung to their fellow classmates while others showed respect and solidarity for three of their schoolmates killed Sunday in a bus crash.

When the bell chimed indicating the start of classes, many students lingered at the memorial which was filled with photographs and messages scrawled on the glass doors of the gym.

“They were good people,” one student said as she walked away.

Marc Rasmussen, a senior at the Glendale school, and Erica Sheffey and Jasmine Bowden, both juniors, were three of those killed along with six other Arizonans when the bus in which they were traveling dropped off an embankment in southeastern Utah and landed 41 feet below.

Rasmussen was on the wrestling and golf teams, and Sheffey was on the cheer squad, said Sandi Hicks, district spokeswoman.

Fellow students were quick to speak of Rasmussen’s happy attitude.

“(Marc) was always laughing, having fun,” said junior Jeremy Bicknell, of his teammate.

Sheffey was known by many students for her talents.

“She was popular, smart and funny,” said junior Amanda Wrolstad.

“She was one of the best cheerleaders,” Hillary Roth, another junior, added. “She was really talented.”

Hicks said the school found out about their deaths after receiving a call from one’s mother and the other’s aunt.

“Today was devastating, that’s for sure,” Jessika Owen, 18, said of the mood on Monday. “Everyone was in tears, and the classes were really silent.”

Hicks said Rasmussen was on a ski trip with his teenage sister, his kindergarten-aged brother and his parents. She said the four family members were taken to hospitals.

Hicks said it was unclear if Sheffey was traveling with family members.

She said grief counselors were at the school.

“Because of the number of students involved, this will have a profound impact,” Hicks said. “Our focus is getting these kids in the right place emotionally before continuing on with academic goals.”

Owen said the school made an announcement about the crash Monday morning.

She said her sister was friends with Sheffey and described her as a good student. “She got straight As,” Owen said. “She succeeded in anything she did.”

The bus rolled 41 feet down an embankment in far southeastern Utah, killing nine passengers who were returning home from a ski trip. About 20 others were injured.

Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Cameron Roden said the bus failed to negotiate a curve, went off the road and rolled over several times Sunday evening.

“The bus looked like a convertible,” said Jim Hook, the fire chief in Bluff, Utah.

“There were lots of head injuries, glass, broken limbs. Everybody was just looking for help. We had to sort through it,” he said.

The Utah Highway Patrol identified the other victims as James J. Baumer, 41, Phoenix; Reese Washington, 12 (no hometown), Ariz.; Pam Humphreys, 67, Tucson; Carolyn Bowden, in her 60s, Phoenix; and Jasmine Bowden, 16, of Glendale.

Rich Cralley, 33, of Phoenix said he and his wife were on the trip but in a different bus. He was nervous about road conditions.

“I’m totally shocked by what happened, and I’m glad that we made it. You feel sorry for those who didn’t,” Cralley said.

Tamri Valls, a sales representative at Corporate Transportation, a subsidiary of Norfolk, Neb.-based Arrow Stage Line, said it was her company’s bus that crashed.

She said the trip of skiers left Phoenix on Thursday but did not have details about their group.

- The Associated Press contributed to this report.