Funds raised for families of teens lost in Santa Clarita crash

More than $13,000 has been raised for the families of the Burbank teens who died last week in a car crash as online crowd-funding campaigns have taken root.

Early Friday morning, the pickup truck they were in tumbled 200 feet down an embankment in Santa Clarita. The crash claimed the lives of three teens — Ian Bulbenko, April Townsend and Jake Gnasso, all 19 years old, and left two others injured.

Loved ones of Gnasso and Townsend have asked for the community’s help in raising money for funeral expenses via the crowd-funding website GoFundMe.com. As of Tuesday afternoon, 243 users had donated to the two funds, with nearly $3,000 being raised for Townsend and nearly $11,000 for Gnasso.

All five of the crash victims attended John Burroughs High School, where hundreds gathered on Friday night for a candlelight vigil to remember their peers who lost their lives.

Among them was Andrew Bibee, a 2013 Burroughs graduate who performed with Gnasso in the school choir for two years.

“He had a voice that Bing Crosby would have been jealous of and he performed like Billy Joel on the piano,” Bibee said. “April was a very happy person who had a great smile. Ian was the kind of person who was always optimistic.”

Pictures of the victims were taped to the school’s brick walls, among blank posters on which peers expressed their condolences.

“All of them liked to joke around and tried to brighten your day,” said 2014 Burroughs graduate Ashley Borgese.

The deaths were ruled accidental and caused by blunt trauma, according to Los Angeles County Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter. Toxicology tests are pending and could take up to eight weeks to complete.

Neither Townsend nor Gnasso were wearing seat belts, according to California Highway Patrol Officer John Lutz. Bulbenko, who was driving, was wearing a seat belt, Lutz said, adding that the investigation remains ongoing.

Two other 19-year-old passengers, Zachary Maina of Burbank, and Timothy Gorman of Sunland, survived and were airlifted to local hospitals after being extricated from the pickup truck. One of them called authorities at 7:35 a.m. after regaining consciousness, officials said.

Both were wearing seat belts.

To donate to the funds, visit www.gofundme.com/egg29g and www.gofundme.com/JakeAdamGnassoFund.

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Charles Rich contributed to this report.