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CMC student killed in late-night accident

John Stroud
Post Independent
Aspen, CO Colorado

GLENWOOD SPRINGS – An 18-year-old Colorado Mountain College student from Aurora was killed late Thursday night when the car she was riding in went off a sharp curve on the county road leading to CMC’s Spring Valley campus and rolled several times.

Steph Zgorzynski was pronounced dead at Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs from injuries she sustained in the crash, according to the Colorado State Patrol.

Three other CMC students in the car, including the 17-year-old juvenile male driver, were also seriously injured.



The accident occurred shortly before midnight on Garfield County Road 114, also known as the CMC Road, according to the Colorado State Patrol.

According to the State Patrol, a silver 2001 Volkswagen driven by the 17-year-old male was headed toward Spring Valley about four miles from the Highway 82 intersection when he failed to negotiate a left-hand curve.




The car went off the right side of the road, through several trees and rolled multiple times down the embankment before coming to rest on its wheels, according to the accident report.

Zgorzynski, who was in the back seat, the driver and another back-seat passenger, Calla Fisher, 19, of Sedona, Ariz., were not wearing seatbelts and were thrown from the car, the report said.

Juan Chaves-Kryks, 18, of Loveland, was a passenger in the front seat.

All of the occupants were transported to Valley View Hospital with serious injuries. Fisher sustained multiple lumbar fractures, Chaves-Kryks sustained an elbow fracture and facial lacerations, and the juvenile male driver also sustained multiple serious injuries.

The State Patrol believes drugs, alcohol, and excessive speed may have been factors in the crash.

“The accident in still under investigation and charges are pending,” according to the State Patrol release.

Colorado Mountain College spokeswoman Debbie Crawford said Spring Valley students and faculty have been advised that counseling is available if needed.

“This is a terrible tragedy, and our hearts and prayers go out to these young people, and to their families and friends. We are all extremely saddened by this accident and by its impact on these young people,” she said.

Assisting the State Patrol at the accident scene were the Carbondale and Glenwood Springs fire departments and the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office.

jstroud@postindependent.com