Obituaries

Trabuco Hills Student Dies From Crash Injuries

Coroner confirms the Wednesday death of Kiana Yazdihan, 16, of Rancho Santa Margarita. She was one of five injured in the Melinda Road crash.


By Martin Henderson

Kiana Yazdihan, a 16-year-old from Rancho Santa Margarita who was injured in a single-vehicle automobile crash on Saturday, has died, the coroner confirmed Thursday.

Kiana, a junior at Trabuco Hills High in Mission Viejo, was one of four passengers in the car. All five female occupants went to area hospitals following the crash on Melinda Road at Paseo Alegria in which the Mercedes Benz C230 they were driving went off the road and crashed into trees.

The Orange County Coroner said Kiana died Wednesday, 10 a.m. She had been removed from life support by her parents. 

"Kiana was a beautiful, loving, caring, funny, amazing person that made everybody laugh and smile," said Sage Campa, a friend since they were in the seventh grade together. 

The 19-year-old driver of the car is a Trabuco Hills graduate. The other four occupants of the car are Trabuco Hills students. 

Craig Collins, the school's principal, said grief counselors were on hand Monday, but many of those most affected by the crash didn't show up to school. "They already knew about it because of social media," he said. 

Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman Lt. Jeff Hallock said speed was believed to have been a factor in the crash. The driver headed southbound on Melinda Road, toward Santa Margarita Parkway, but was unable to negotiate a right-hand bend in the road. The vehicle crossed two lanes of oncoming traffic, a sidewalk, and then plowed up an embankment. It crashed through one tree before hitting a second tree and coming to a stop. The road was slick because of rain earlier in the day.

Kiana and the other most seriously injured occupant were in the backseat but apparently not wearing seat belts. They were taken to Mission Hospital in critical condition. Two others suffered moderate injuries and the fifth suffered mild injuries, according to authorities.

Lt. Brian Schmutz, chief of police services in Rancho Santa Margarita, said it has been several years since there was an auto fatality in the city.

Every two years in the spring, Trabuco Hills has a program on campus for juniors and seniors called Every 15 Minutes, which is a mock DUI accident—based on a true-life event in San Juan Capistrano—involving students on their way home from prom. Collins, recognizing a teachable moment, said the program in May is likely to be very emotional, and the school would likely work Saturday's tragedy into it in some fashion. 

"We're a school, we're all about learning, and hopefully we'll take away some lessons from this, about speed when you drive, and who you get in the car with," Collins said. "No matter who you're driving with you have to focus on them being careful drivers."

Collins also said the school was allowing the students to memorialize Kiana in their own ways "because it's more genuine." 

The basketball team, for example, decided to wear purple shoelaces for Friday's game against Aliso Niguel because purple was Kiana's favorite color. 

A Wednesday night vigil at the crash site, near the entrance to the Cortesia Apartments, was organized by teens and attended by about 200 people.  

"The kids we talked to said it was very nice, very well done, very genuine," Collins said. 

"We really feel for the family. It's going to impact all the families, even the ones not seriously injured. We're concerned about all of them because there's a lot of grief involved."


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