Paris Arthur felt compelled see where it happened.
"Just to feel, you know," she said.
According to Katy police, a truck with three people inside was travelling fast south on Katy-Hockley Road just before 7am Sunday.
It was foggy. The truck ran a stop sign, left the road and crashed into a tree. It almost immediately caught fire, killing all three teenagers, one a popular Morton Ranch High School cheerleader and two recent Cinco Ranch High School graduates.
Their friends describe the moment their lives changed.
"It didn't exactly click and I had to re-read the text 6 times and I was, like, 'No,'" said Kylie Dougherty.
"I was like, 'No it's not true. It didn't happen,'" added friend Lee Sellers.
"I started freaking out and didn't want to believe it," said Paris.
Katy ISD provided grief counselors for students and will continue to do so. At Morton Ranch, news spread fast. Besides being a cheerleader, friends say the popular 16-year-old was in FFA and a good student.
Coping will make exam week hard, but Paris worries more about the teens' families.
"I can't think even think about her parents, what her parents are going through" she said. "Your parents aren't supposed to outlive their kids. It makes me said to think about that, too."
No one yet knows why the teens were out that early in the morning. Katy police are still investigating. Meantime, friends of the Morton Ranch cheerleader are gathering photos to put together a memory book for her family. The medical examiner is expected to have official identification on all three victims by Tuesday.
