Vermont Marks 10 Years Since I-89 Crash That Killed 5 Teens

Vermont is marking 10 years since a crash on Interstate 89 in Williston killed five teenagers on Oct. 8, 2016, the deadliest mass homicide in state history. Steven D. Bourgoin, who drove the wrong way into the teens' car, was convicted in 2019 of five counts of second-degree murder, a verdict the Vermont Supreme Court upheld in 2021; he is serving 30 years to life in a Mississippi prison.

The crash killed Mary Harris, Liam Hale, Eli Brookens, Cyrus Zschau and Janie Chase Cozzi, four of whom were juniors at Harwood Union High School. In the years since, families created several memorials: the Liam Kenneth Hale Adventure Scholarship, established in 2017 and awarded annually on Liam's birthday with a Sugarbush Four Season Pass valued at more than $3,000; the Eli Brookens Memorial Fund, established in 2019 to help fund winter sports at Crossett Brook Middle School; the Janie Chase Cozzi Foundation, which has awarded scholarships to eight girls; and the Mary Harris Girls' Youth Soccer Day.

Families and the community are planning "Still We Rise," an immersive art, light and multimedia exhibition at The Big Picture Theater in Waitsfield from Oct. 16 to Oct. 18, to mark the anniversary.

This story was first reported by VTDigger.