Ventura Freeway Accident Kills 3 Youths, Injures 2

Two Ventura County teen-agers were stable condition Monday after being struck by an alleged drunk driver last week in an accident that killed three of their companions.

Jeremy Boyd, 19, and Jeff Botens, 16, both of Camarillo, were at Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo with broken arms and legs and internal injuries, according to a nursing supervisor at the hospital.

Killed in the Friday night accident on the Ventura Freeway were Jacob Eugene Boyd, 14, brother of Jeremy Boyd; Joshua Daniel Oxenreider, 19, son of Linda and Roger Oxenreider of Camarillo, and Darin Scott Mullins, 20, of Mansfield, Ohio, said Craig Stevens, deputy coroner for the Ventura County medical examiner’s office.

Mullins had been a guest of the Oxenreider family for the last five or six weeks. A sixth man, whose identity was not released Monday, escaped injury by crawling over a freeway guard rail that separated him from traffic, Stevens said.

The six young men had parked their Mercury Cougar on the shoulder of the northbound lanes about 8:45 p.m. and were going to seek help for a flat tire. They were parked about a quarter of a mile south of the Camarillo Springs Road when a 1984 Ford Bronco driven by Diane Mannes, 34, of Somis, allegedly sideswiped the car and flipped over, striking the victims.

Mullins and Oxenreider died shortly afterward. Jacob Boyd died Saturday at Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, after failing to regain consciousness, Stevens said. All three died from head injuries. Mannes was arrested for suspicion of drunk driving. She was listed in good condition Monday at Los Robles Regional Medical Center, said hospital spokeswoman Helen Mitchell. Stevens said Mannes suffered minor injuries.

Stevens said the men were returning to Camarillo after picking up a friend in Thousand Oaks.

The accident is being investigated by the California Highway Patrol.