'No one would come get us:' Survivors of fatal Oswego crash testify

The three survivors lived to tell their story, but each said they have little memory of what led to the fatal Oswego crash that killed five of their friends.

Arielle Rexford, Joshua Dillon and Robert Larsen Jr. said they recall piling into a car while leaving an underage drinking party in Boulder Hill, but they could not provide details of the next few minutes that led to the horrific one-car crash four miles away.

The last of their testimonies Wednesday punctuated an emotional first two days of Sandra Vasquez's trial. Nearly two dozen prosecution witnesses have taken the stand.

The 26-year-old Aurora woman pleaded not guilty. She is expected to testify next week. Vasquez faces up to 28 years in prison if convicted of aggravated drunken driving for the Feb. 11, 2007 crash along Route 31 in Oswego that killed five of her eight passengers.

Also Wednesday, two crash-scene reconstruction experts testified their investigation projected Vasquez's 2001 Infiniti was traveling 68 in a 45 mph zone when she lost control and slammed into a telephone pole. At impact, the experts said, the Infiniti was at 44 mph. Dillon, now 19 and from Boulder Hill, said he asked Vasquez for a ride after meeting her for the first time earlier in the evening at the party. The teens arrived there with another friend who had her brother pick her up earlier in the evening after becoming too intoxicated to drive.

Oswego High School students Matthew Frank, 17; Katherine "Katie" Merkel, 14; James McGee, 14; Jessica Nutoni, 15; and Tiffany Urso, 16, were killed. Merkel sat on McGee's lap in the front passenger seat. Nutoni and Urso were in the back seat on top of the three survivors.

Larsen showed the solemn jury his scars from injuries that include a cracked rib, two broken legs, head trauma and a broken pelvis. He and Dillon were airlifted by medical helicopters to area hospitals. Larsen described how the group of teens, most of whom where intoxicated, tried in vain to find a ride home after being asked to leave the party. None called their parents, earlier testimony revealed.

"We called most people we knew," said Larsen, now 18, of Oswego. "No one would come get us."

Defense attorney Kathleen Colton suggested the crash occurred after the drunken teens jokingly grabbed the steering wheel or kicked the back of the driver's seat, rather than because of Vasquez's recklessness.

Her blood-alcohol level was .124, above the legal threshold of .08, but Colton questioned whether those results were accurate since Vasquez may have vomited shortly beforehand due to her injuries. Experts agree vomiting may skew results.

Kendall County State's Attorney Eric Weis, whose trial team includes first-assistant Michael Reidy and Robert Dore, said evidence from blood analysis, crash reconstruction, eyewitness testimony and Vasquez's own words to police will prove her guilt.

For example, Oswego police officers Chad Vargas and Jason Bastin testified Vasquez initially denied being the driver when questioned at the hospital.

Minutes later, after confronted with Rexford's description of Vasquez as the driver, she admitted being behind the wheel after consuming about three drinks. Vasquez said she went to the party, which was at her aunt's house, to pick up her sister.

Police testified Vasquez said she told the stranded teens she'd only give them a ride if someone else drove because she was too intoxicated.

"She said I told them I didn't want to drive but I didn't like that way James (McGee) was driving," Vargas said. "She said they switched spots and she began to drive."

In earlier testimony, Rexford said she can't recall details of the crash, but prosecutors read statements police said she made to them at the hospital.

"I knew we were going to get into an accident," Reidy read, quoting Rexford in the police report. "I remember she (Vasquez) would turn corners really fast and she said this is how I drive. I remember she was driving like an idiot."