Three people were killed late Saturday in a single-vehicle crash in the York County town of Dayton, Maine State Police said Sunday.

The deaths bring the unofficial total of highway fatalities in Maine to 84 so far this year – or seven more than had been recorded at this time in 2014.

Last year, 128 people died in Maine highway crashes, the lowest number since World War II, according to Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

But this year has been a different story.

“August has traditionally been one of the deadliest months for highway fatalities in the state,” McCausland said Sunday. “And that seems to be coming true this month. We’re close to having one fatality a day.”

Saturday’s crash in Dayton occurred about 11:30 p.m. on Gould Road, McCausland said. Those killed were identified as Jill Ann Theriault, 33, of Dayton, the driver of the car, and her male passengers, Lee Goodrich, 45, of Alfred and Devin Nolan, 20, of Sanford.

All three victims were friends of one another on the social media website Facebook, but police are not certain why they were together Saturday night.

“He was a really good kid,” Nolan’s biological father, Timothy Nolan, said Sunday night. He said Devin enjoyed hanging out at the city’s skate park.

Nolan said he did not know why his son was with people much older than he was.

“I’m at a loss to explain it,” Nolan said.

Trooper Jonathan Heimbach said the three were killed instantly when the Buick, traveling at a high speed, went off the road on a slight curve and slammed into trees, coming to rest overturned on the driver’s side.

The trooper said no one in the car had a valid driver’s license – all were suspended, according to McCausland.

He said the crash happened about 2 miles from Theriault’s home.

Theriault’s blood will be tested for alcohol, McCausland said. In the meantime, state police are hoping that someone will tell them where the three had spent the evening.

“We may have a better idea if alcohol was involved if we can determine where they had been prior to the crash,” McCausland said. “The suspicion right now is they were heading toward Theriault’s home.”

The Maine Bureau of Highway Safety website says there have been 81 highway fatalities in Maine so far this year – not including those in the Dayton crash – compared to 77 fatalities at this time in 2014.

Maine’s crash records go back to 1935. From 2005 to 2013, an average of 162 people a year died in state highway crashes, according to the Bureau of Highway Safety.

Anyone with information about where Theriault, Goodrich and Nolan had been earlier Saturday night is asked to call the state police in Gray at 657-3030.