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Three young friends together in death: Families grieve for victims of an accident Sunday on I-215 in Perris. Relatives of a wrong-way driver are "devastated."

 
Author: Guy McCarthy; The Press-Enterprise
Article Text:  MORENO VALLEY

Shane Barkman and Connie Fox were so much in love they kept a journal of their daily thoughts and dreams. She was 18 and he was 21, and they planned to spend their lives together.
Adam Granillo, 21, and Shane were inseparable pals as they grew up in Moreno Valley. Shane's mother said the two were so close they were "joined at the hip."  The three friends' lives ended early Sunday morning when their car was hit by a wrong-way driver on Interstate 215 in Perris. As their families struggled Monday to cope with the deaths, they took comfort in the happiness Adam, Shane and Connie shared before they died.  "All three of them were the most compassionate, concerned young people I knew," said Shane's mother, Judi Barkman. "I have four sons, and I always called Adam my fifth. I felt very close to Connie, too. I feel like I lost a daughter."

The friends were returning from a weekend trip early Sunday when a wrong-way driver with an open beer between her legs crashed into their car on I-215, California Highway Patrol officials said.  The wrong-way driver, a licensed vocational nurse staying in Hemet, also died in the crash. A relative said Lillian Marie Hunt, 55, was on her way to work. Investigators are waiting for test results to determine whether Hunt had been intoxicated.  Hunt probably got on the I-215, heading south in the northbound lanes, from Highway 74, CHP Officer Ron Thatcher said. Median barriers in the area of the crash would have prevented her from crossing the highway's center divider, he said.  Shane, Adam, and Hunt died at the crash scene. Connie was pronounced dead later Sunday at Riverside County Regional Medical Center in Moreno Valley.

"I heard about it first from Adam's mother, and a few minutes later the police were at my door," Judi Barkman said, weeping softly as she spoke at her home. "I knew Shane and Adam had been killed. But there was still a chance Connie's mom could see her before she died."  Connie's family had just moved, and it took a few long hours before authorities found her mother, Cathy Sherman. Sherman and Judi Barkman arrived at the hospital before Connie died, but the young Riverside woman never regained consciousness.  Hunt's niece said Monday that her family is devastated by the accident.

"Somebody with a heart had an accident," said Michelle Yencha, 30. "Yes, she was going the wrong way; yes, she killed three people but she wasn't this horrible person . . . She was more than a wrong-way driver."  Hunt had a valid license as a vocational nurse, according to the California Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians.  Hunt was a traveling nurse who stayed in different areas for different jobs, Yencha said. She had been staying in Hemet for a few days and was apparently on her way to work when the accident occurred, Yencha said.

Hunt lived with her sister in Temecula. Her two grown children live in Northern California.
Hunt would have been horrified if she had survived the crash, Yencha said.  "Had she lived to know what had happened about these three kids, she would never have been able to live with herself," Yencha said. "I know she would be experiencing great pain if she knew what had happened."  The three friends' families spent much of Sunday and Monday grieving together. Funeral arrangements will be announced later this week.

Connie and Shane met about 18 months ago, and started going steady last summer.
For Valentine's Day, Connie filled Shane's car with hand-cut paper hearts, each adorned with a light-hearted, love note. "Smooches." "Call me." "Fax me."  "He always saved everything she gave him," Barkman said, pulling the hearts out of a plastic bag. Strewn on the living room table were scores of photographs. Connie and Shane parasailing in Puerto Vallarta in June. Shane admiring Connie in her prom dress in May.  Connie attended Ramona High School in Riverside and her boyfriend was too old to attend her prom, Barkman said.  She said he created a mini-prom in their back yard.

He cleaned the weeds out of the old, above-ground pool. Then he put in a table for two, strung lights and lighted candles.  "He had dinner served and music and dancing," Shane's mother said. "It was just so sweet. It was a special time, and a priceless memory."  The families of the pair have decided to bury them side-by-side, probably in Olivewood Cemetery in Riverside. 
Adam's funeral is being handled by the Navy. He was serving on the destroyer USS Kincaid, based in San Diego.  Before Adam left Moreno Valley for the Navy, he and Shane had been fast friends since age 10.  They went to elementary and middle school together. They graduated together from Valley View High School in 1997. They were members of the Advanced Tech Car Club, a local group of auto enthusiasts.  "They'd been together since they were young boys," Barkman said. "They were like brothers."

After the accident and loss of my daughter, I had many issues to work out. And in doing so I was trying to escape my thoughts one night and I went out to have some fun at a local tavern I had 4 beers in 3 hours on a empty stomach. Then we decided to leave my wife was the designated driver, We had attempted to drink responsibly. When it came time to leave we got in the car, and as my wife was backing out she accidentally hit the bumper of another car.

At that time my wife got very nervous and worried because we could not find the owner of the vehicle. We then decided to leave a note on the vehicle and proceed home. Well, my wife was so nervous that she could not drive, so I decided to drive even thought I had had a few drinks. I did not think that I was too intoxicated to drive, We left the tavern and headed home. Well we got pulled over. The reason we got pulled over was that someone had thought we had left the scene of an accident without notifying the other vehicle’s owner.

After we got pulled over and I explained that we had left a note with our name and address on it, the reason for being pulled over was no longer an issue and even though I was driving okay I thought, the officer had smelled alcohol on my breath. I had to do a field sobriety test and the officer thought I was too intoxicated to drive. I was then transported to the police station where I had to take a breathalyzer test and it was determined that I was just over the legal limit and I received my very first D.U.I

Because of the background of loosing my daughter to a drunk driver, I was very ashamed of myself and needed to make sure that this never happened again. I went to a drunk driving course in Harrison, Arkansas, and that was the first time I came in contact with fatal vision goggles. The first time I put the goggles on I had an inspirational idea, and that idea was that children of all ages and adults could benefit from being introduced to fatal vision goggles before they had a drunk driving incident (D.U.I.).

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