Schumacher’s 1998 Pontiac Grand am was headed west on two-lane Hwy. 95, near County Road 70, when it collided with a 2000 Oldsmobile Bravada SUV, which caught fire. Two people in that vehicle, a 24-year-old driver from Sandstone and his male passenger, died. as of late Sunday, they had not been positively identified by the medical examiner, Roeske said.

The crash also killed Kelsee Blackledge, 15, of Cambridge; Travis Buchan, 17, of Cambridge; Travis Gryczowski, 21, of Cambridge, and Kendryna-Whitefeather — a “senseless accident” that had Kendryna-Whitefeather’s mother searching for explanations between sobs.

Her son was struggling to maintain his sobriety, she said. She had warned him Saturday, just as she playfully did every day, “Don’t do anything stupid,” she said. He responded, “Mama, I love you,” she said.

But Deborah Kendryna, a longtime worker in the field of chemical dependency, said she worried when Sabrina Schumacher came by. Kendryna said she recently had thrown Sabrina out of her home because “she could always get liquor” for the young people.

Schumacher’s boss at Jimmy’s Pizza, Jimmy Gordon, 23, offered a different view of Sabrina, calling her a “great girl” who worked hard and was always responsible.

Travis Buchan had begun dating Schumacher recently, said friends who gathered Sunday afternoon at the accident scene. A clever lyricist who let his mind run wild when composing songs, Buchan, who went by the nickname “Trouble,” was “goofy” and easygoing, said friend Katie Swanson, 18.

Buchan often had said he was lucky to be alive, friends recalled. He had survived an earlier car accident in which he hit a silo and had a noticeable scar on his upper lip as a reminder, friends said.

Some of the young people involved in the accident had a reputation for wildness. Said Isanti County Sheriff Russ Monson: “Some of our guys have seen some of these kids.”

They planned to ‘hang out’

Schumacher, Buchan, Kendryna-Whitefeather and the others were seen at a baby shower at the Isanti VFW early Saturday evening, said friend Derrick Hanson, 20. the five who would end up in Schumacher’s car later were seen at a Subway sandwich shop, with at least some of them planning to stay overnight somewhere, friends said.

“In between, they were going to hang out,” said Aaron Jacobson, 18, of Isanti.