In the span of a single afternoon, Highway 83 became a line between before and after. A stolen Toyota, reported just an hour earlier, veered off the shoulder, over-corrected, and rolled into oncoming traffic. The driver was thrown from the car and killed instantly. In the northbound lane, a father from Colorado Springs and five children had no time, no warning, and nowhere to go.
Four of them died there on the asphalt: the 35-year-old man, an 8-year-old boy, and two 12-year-olds. A 13-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy were flown to the hospital, their futures hanging in the balance. Behind the statistics is a family that left home together and did not return. Investigators will search for answers—speed, recklessness, why the car was stolen—but no report can measure the weight of five empty chairs.