Clinton fatal

Ashlin Baker, Emily Baker and Thomas Porfirio were killed in single-vehicle accident Sunday in Clinton. Contributed photos

Clinton police on Tuesday interviewed people as part of their investigation into a car crash Sunday that killed two teenagers and a 12-year-old and seriously injured two other teens.

Clinton police Chief Rusty Bell said he did not have any new information to release about the Hinckley Road accident as officers were trying to piece together a timeline of events leading up to the crash.

“I don’t have anything I didn’t have yesterday,” Bell said Tuesday afternoon.

Steve McCausland, spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety, said he also had nothing new and that Bell is the best source of information.

Meanwhile, authorities earlier on Tuesday told the Associated Press that a late night “joyride” appears to have been the cause of the fatal crash.

It appears “they were just kind of out for a joyride, horsing around like kids do,” Cpl. Phil DiLuca of the Clinton Police Department told the Associated Press.

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The police were working with local residents who have provided information to try to reconstruct a 24-hour timeline of events that ended in the crash, DiLuca said. At least one of the youths in the vehicle was not wearing a seatbelt, he said.

Flowers were left Tuesday at the location where three young people were killed in a car crash on Hinckley Road in Clinton. The crash occurred Sunday morning. Morning Sentinel photo by Rich Abrahamson Buy this Photo

The 7:15 a.m. crash occurred about two miles from downtown Clinton when the 2007 Toyota Corolla with the youths inside apparently struck a patch of ice and slammed into a large pine tree, according to police.

Killed in the crash were sisters Emily and Ashlin Baker, 14 and 12, respectively, and Thomas Porfirio, 15. Police have not yet identified the 16-year-old driver while they confer with the district attorney’s office on the case. No charges have been filed in the case.

Flowers were left Tuesday at the location where three young people were killed in a car crash on Hinckley Road in Clinton. The crash occurred Sunday morning. Morning Sentinel photo by Rich Abrahamson Buy this Photo

The driver and passenger Nevaeh Wilson, 12, survived the crash and were taken afterward to Maine Medical Center in Portland. Wilson suffered broken bones and the driver reportedly suffered a broken collar bone and is back at home. All of the youths are from Clinton, Bell said.

A woman who answered the phone late Tuesday afternoon at Maine Medical Center said there was no one with the name “Wilson” listed as being at the hospital.

Vicky Bowring, who lives with the Baker family and whose daughter was best friends with Emily and Ashlin, said Tuesday that Wilson was not taking phone calls at the hospital. She said Wilson suffered a broken pelvis, femur and wrist in the crash and injured a knee. Bowring said she did not know how Wilson is doing.

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“She was one of the girls’ really good friends,” Bowring said. “She spent a lot of time with the girls. She lives with her grandmother and helps her grandmother out a lot. She’s a good girl and fun-loving and she is very personable. She has a lot of friends and she gets along with everybody.”

As of late Tuesday afternoon, funeral services for the Baker girls had not been set, though Bowring said it will be held at Williamson Arts Center at Lawrence High School, which Emily Baker and Porfirio attended.

“The girls have not been released to us yet,” Bowring said. “They’re still doing the autopsies.”

She said she believed Porfirio’s service will be held Saturday, although she did not know the time or location.

Samantha Baker, the girls’ mother, is having a very hard time and asked Bowring to speak for her, she said. Bowring said living with the loss is heartrending. Bowring saw a youth walk into the room Monday night, she said, and just for a moment thought it was Emily or Ashlin.

“I’ve walked by their bedrooms and looked in to see them,” she said. “Everywhere I go — the kids went everywhere with me. I go to the store and start crying. I go by the school. Today is the first day I’ve been out.”

A message left Tuesday afternoon for Porfirio’s father, Tony, was not immediately returned.

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