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3 Peninsula Teens Die When Their Vehicle Careens Off Skyline Boulevard

MENLO PARK (KPIX 5) -- A community on the peninsula is remembering three teenage friends killed in a rollover crash on Skyline Boulevard in San Mateo County.

Friends of Matthew Cruz, Ricky Torres and Andrew Gonzales left flowers and candles at the spot where their car skidded off the road careening down a ravine killing all three teens.

The teenagers' friend Gino Buranzon said, "When I got the news, it was just devastating, you know."

Steven Effisimo was also friends with the teens.

"I just can't imagine what they went through in the last minutes of their lives. I worked with them for a year and a half at Target," he said. "They were just great guys."

The California Highway Patrol says the cause of the deadly crash is still under investigation.

The three friends were reported missing Tuesday night, but their bodies and the mangled wreckage of their car wasn't found until Wednesday morning.

Friends say Ricky and Andrew were both considering careers as firefighters, both excelling in the Menlo Park Fire Department's explorers program.

"Every day, they were just full of life, their friend Buranzon said. "They would show up every day to our Explorers' Post just ready to go."

The young men on a path to a life of service when their futures were cut tragically short when, for some reason, their car left the path it was on Tuesday night.

"It's just a terrible loss," their friend Effisimo said. "I'm just sad it happened."

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