Deaths of three Burbank teens in car crash caused by blunt trauma

The deaths of three Burbank teens killed in a car collision in Santa Clarita last week have been ruled accidental and were caused by blunt trauma, Los Angeles County coroner’s officials said Monday.

The collision occurred early Friday morning, when the driver, identified as Ian Bulbenko, 19, was traveling on Rush Canyon Road about a mile west of Sierra Highway around 2 a.m. and his pickup truck tumbled 200 feet down the embankment, according to a report from the California Highway Patrol.

Bulbenko, along with passengers April Townsend, 19, and Jake Gnasso, 19, died in the crash.

Neither Townsend nor Gnasso were wearing seatbelts, though Bulbenko was, according to California Highway Patrol Officer John Lutz. The investigation remains ongoing, he added.

Two other 19-year-old passengers, Zachary Maina, of Burbank, and Timothy Gorman, of Sunland, survived and were airlifted to local hospitals after being extricated from the pickup truck. One of them had called authorities at 7:35 a.m. after regaining consciousness, officials said.

Both Maina and Gorman were wearing seatbelts, the report stated.

Authorities have not determined whether alcohol or drugs contributed to the crash. Toxicology tests are pending and could take up to eight weeks to complete, according to Los Angeles County Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter.

All five of the crash victims attended John Burroughs High School, where hundreds gathered on Friday night for a candlelight vigil to remember their peers who lost their lives too soon.

Among them was Andrew Bibee, a 2013 Burroughs graduate who performed with Gnasso in the school choir for two years.

“He had a voice that Bing Crosby would have been jealous of and he performed like Billy Joel on the piano,” Bibee said. “April was a very happy person who had a great smile. Ian was the kind of person who was always optimistic.”

Pictures of the victims were taped to the school’s brick walls, among posters on which peers expressed their condolences.

“All of them liked to joke around and tried to brighten your day,” said 2014 Burroughs graduate Ashley Borgese.

Charles Rich contributed to this report.