The lives of three UCF students were changed forever May 8 when a violent car crash on Alafaya Trail left one student dead and sent two to the hospital.
Jesus Ortiz, a business major, died in the crash.
Ortiz left Boardwalk Apartments driving a 1999 Honda Accord. His girlfriend Sarah Rogers, a Student Government Association senator and president of the Society of Women Engineers, was in the passenger seat.
Seth Merle was heading north on Alafaya Trail in a 2007 Mazda. Ortiz turned right onto Alafaya Trail to go north and pulled in front of Merle's Mazda.
Merle swerved to try and avoid the impact but hit the driver's side.
The violent impact of metal and glass crushed the driver's side of the Accord nearly into the passenger seat and sent both vehicles spinning into the southbound lanes.
When Florida Highway Patrol officers arrived, Ortiz was already dead. His girlfriend, Rogers, was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center in a coma. She's now listed in stable condition and has made progress toward recovery.
"[Ortiz] was probably one of the best people I ever knew," said friend Stephanie Kostakis in an e-mail. "I never saw him without a smile on his face. He had a kind heart, a good head on his shoulders, and could brighten up anyone's day.
"I went to the viewing. Normally when you go they say the person should look 'at peace,' but he didn't," Kostakis continued in the e-mail. "He looked uncomfortable. It wasn't his time."
Merle was taken to ORMC as well, and has since been released.
FHP Trooper Kim Miller said that charges are pending in the accident. Alcohol was not believed to be a factor in the crash.
However, neither Rogers nor Ortiz were wearing seatbelts.
Ortiz's viewing and burial were held on May 7 and 8. He was buried at Greenwood Cemetery.
His best friend, Valencia student Robbie Swiebel, described him as someone who "enjoyed everything. [He liked] to eat, [go to] the beach, the finer things in life, but mostly just being with his friends."
Swiebel said in an e-mail that he and Ortiz met 10 years ago and have been best friends since. In a blog he posted on his MySpace, he described the difficulties he had in sharing the news with their group of friends.
"Today I had to make the hardest phone calls I have ever had to make. I had to call all our friends and let them know what happened. Nothing is harder than that. The amount of times I have heard dead silence over the phone or people bursting into tears, there are just no words I can say to any of them to help. Everyone is in disbelief.
"Having to hold myself together for all the phone calls was hard. It finally hit me tonight on my last drive home from seeing everyone," Swiebel wrote.
Rogers, an electrical engineering major, is a student senator for the College of Engineering and Computer Sciences. She is also a sister in the Chi Omega sorority.
Rogers' friends in the Senate have been wishing her well.
"She's such a great person," junior marketing major Andrick Lewis said.
Last Thursday night at the Senate meeting, senators signed a get-well card to send to Rogers.
Senior civil engineering major Ricky Ly sits next to Rogers at the Senate meetings.
"I hope and pray that she gets better soon," Ly said. "It's very tragic."
Rogers is a disc jockey in her free time, according to friends, a passion of hers.
Fellow DJ Mark Horne, 37, is organizing a fundraiser in her honor to be held June 2.
"Sarah's a good girl," Horne said. "I know how hard she worked. Because she was a DJ, we take care of our own. It's just like any clique or group."
The fundraiser will be held at Captain J's restaurant in Cocoa Beach and will be hosted by (321) Entertainment and Fragile Recording. Horne says no cover will be charged, but donations will be accepted and will go directly to Rogers' family.
To keep everyone updated on Rogers' progress, her father is maintaining a MySpace blog. Not only are well-wishers leaving notes on that page, but on Rogers' and Ortiz's MySpace and Facebook profiles as well.
One of Rogers' visitors at the hospital was the executive associate dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science, Debra Reinhart. She is also sending e-mails to keep others informed of Rogers' progress.
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