17-year-old killed in crash on way to prom: ‘Was the sweetest’

A high school senior was killed in a crash on his way to prom, leaving a North Carolina community devastated, officials said.

Will Turner, 17, expected to graduate from North Stokes High School in May. He planned to attend trucking school, with dreams of becoming a diesel mechanic, his loved ones told news outlets.

But Turner’s life was cut short when tragedy struck Saturday, April 12. Authorities said the teen was driving a Ford Taurus when he veered off the road and hit two trees. He died at the scene, the N.C. State Highway Patrol told the News & Record and WGHP.

State troopers told WFMY that speed was a factor in the crash. The wreck was reported at about 6 p.m. along N.C. Highway 8 in Stokes County, a roughly 30-mile drive north from Winston-Salem.

Turner wasn’t sure about going to prom but decided to go at the last minute, his foster mom told WXII and WGHP. Before the dance, he found a rock painted with the words “I’m ready” — a phrase his grandmother Bonnie Roberts said she now interprets as a sign of the tragedy that followed, according to a Facebook post.

Turner is remembered in news reports as a teen who loved outdoor activities, including fishing and hunting.

“He was the sweetest, most loving kid you have ever met,” foster mom Tina Lawson told WGHP. “If you needed something and he had it, it was yours. He just gave.”