Local News

Car Hits Church Vans; 3 Die

Posted Updated

NEW HILL — June 15, 1996, 12:24 p.m.EDT

Just before midnight Friday, a car hit two church vans on US 1, killing all three of the car's occupants. Investigators said they don't believe alcohol was involved.

The vans were transporting two dozen teens from a Cary ice skating rink back home to Sanford. Fifteen of them were taken to hospitals for treatment of injuries, most of which were broken bones. The driver of the second van was undergoing surgery late Saturday afternoon. The vans were being used by First Baptist Church in Sanford.

The driver of the automobile was identified as 25-year-old Deborah Ann Fuller of Raleigh. The two passengers who died were identified as Kirsten Marie Stanton, 6, and Lyndsey V. Nisbett, who was thought to be 5 years old.

Investigators said the two children were nieces of Fuller's fiance. She was to be married July 6.

Authorities said the Nissan Stanza driven by Fuller was heading north on US 1 when it crossed the center line, sideswiping the first van. The car then hit the second van head on. No one in the first van was injured.

Carl Johnson, interim youth minister at the church, was riding in the first van. After the crash, he "started counting heads and making sure they were talking to me. All of them were," he said.

Authorities have not said where the two little girls lived

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