3 Killed, 9 Hurt in Crash on Pearblossom Highway

The young parents of a 10-month-old boy were killed and the infant was injured when their sport utility vehicle was struck head-on by a wrong-way driver who also was killed, authorities said Saturday.

The collision was part of a four-vehicle chain-reaction accident late Friday that left three dead and nine injured in this high-desert community about 60 miles north of Los Angeles.

Keith Stein, 23, and Teresa Stein, 22, of Lancaster, were pronounced dead at the scene, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said.

The couple’s only child, Jakob Keith Stein, suffered a broken leg and was admitted to a local hospital, family members said.

The Steins were eastbound on Pearblossom Highway when their 1995 Jeep Wrangler was struck head-on by a 1974 Ford pickup truck being driven by a 33-year-old Valyermo man, California Highway Patrol Officer Gary Butler said.

The man’s identity was being withheld by authorities because relatives had not been told of his death, a coroner’s spokeswoman said.

At 10:25 p.m., the Valyermo man was westbound on Pearblossom Highway at a high rate of speed when he failed to negotiate a curve in the roadway just north of Avenue W, Butler said.

The pickup crossed into eastbound traffic, sideswiped a 1986 Chevrolet Astro minivan and struck a trailer loaded with a small car being pulled by the minivan, Butler said. The small car was knocked off the trailer and into the roadway.

The driver of the minivan, James Minifield Jr., 25, of Adelanto, and two passengers, Tra Vonn, 30, of Los Angeles, and Jamari Minifield, 4, of Adelanto, suffered minor injuries and were taken to Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster, Butler said.

The pickup then hit the Steins’ Jeep head-on, he said, killing them and injuring their baby.

The pickup flew over the top of the Jeep and came to rest straddling the eastbound shoulder and slow lane, where it was struck broadside by a 1998 Ford Contour, Butler said.

The driver, Aiza Bravo, 26, and passengers, Eric Bravo, 23, and Richard Bravo, 30, all of Panorama City, as well as passengers Kathy Neilson, 24, of Redondo Beach, and Francesca Sevilla, 23, of Los Angeles, all suffered minor injuries and were taken to Lancaster Community Hospital, he said.

Family members remembered the Steins as a loving couple who were just starting out as a family.

“They were only married for two years and this was their first child,” said Larry Stein of Lancaster, Keith Stein’s father. “They worked all the time, trying to make ends meet.”

The elder Stein said his son was earning a living as a construction worker and sign-maker while waiting to join the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Teresa Stein worked in the security division of the Antelope Valley School District, he said.

Both sets of grandparents intend to share the responsibility of caring for the orphaned child, Stein said.

“They were just two loving people,” he said. “They were so happy with the baby and just starting their life together.”