1 victim's mom: 'I prayed . . . that it wasn't my son'

FRUITLAND PARK -- On the same street in this Lake County neighborhood, two mothers urged their teenage sons to stay home Saturday night and trusted they were safe when the boys went out anyway.

A few hours after the boys -- who had been best friends for about a year -- left, sirens and phone calls awakened their mothers.

"When I heard the sirens, I prayed, just like I do every time they wake me up, that it wasn't my son," said Beth Sloan, one of the mothers.

There had been an accident, and Kenneth L. Vandergriff, 16, and Aaron L. Porter, 19, together as usual, were critically injured and later pronounced dead.

Family, friends and authorities are still trying to piece together exactly what happened, but at about 2:15 a.m., the 1996 Pontiac Grand Prix they were in veered off Lake Unity Road at about 90 mph. Authorities said Porter, who was driving, overcorrected, and the car flipped and careened about 700 feet.

Both boys were ejected from the car, with Kenneth landing on the front lawn and Porter thrown through the house's roof and coming to rest in the attic. Both were airlifted to Orlando Regional Medical Center, where they were pronounced dead.

"When I saw them slide the body down the ladder and he was gasping for air, I was hoping he would make it," said Samuel M. Rednour, who owns the house where the car finally stopped. "These kids were not ready to meet the Lord."

On Monday, there were obvious reminders of what had happened. At the spot where the car had veered off the road, a small wooden cross had been erected. Closer to Rednour's house, tire tracks were still fresh and a palm tree had been thrown about 100 feet from its usual spot.

The front door of Rednour's one-story red brick house could not be opened, and the car's axle and tire had made a large rectangular hole in the bottom of it. A large tarpaulin was covering the hole in the roof, and in the spare bedroom, the ceiling was cracked, showing the impact of Porter's body on the roof. An electronic sign telling drivers how fast they were going was placed near the spot of the accident Monday morning, Rednour said.

Since the accident happened, dozens of teenagers, many of them classmates of Kenneth's at Leesburg High School, have visited the spot of the accident. Family and friends said Kenneth was very popular at school, and grief counselors were at the school Monday. In fact, Rednour said some of his grandchildren attended Leesburg High and knew the boys.

Neither boy was wearing a seat belt and neither one had a valid drivers license, said Sgt. Jorge Delahoz of the Florida Highway Patrol.

At some point in the evening, the boys were at a gathering at the home of the mother of Porter's son. The car the boys were in belonged to the girl's father, and Delahoz was unsure where the two were heading when the accident happened. Delahoz also said investigators think both boys were drinking alcohol that night.

Kenneth was described as having a big heart and, like many teenagers, didn't like being at school if he didn't have to. Family and friends said Kenneth was a sophomore at Leesburg High School, but a spokeswoman for Lake County Schools said he was a freshman.

In the past few months, Kenneth's sister and mother had seen a change in him as he started dating Christina Hilton, 15, who also lives nearby. This summer, Kenneth enjoyed his job with a local landscaping company, but didn't like it when he had to stay late and couldn't see Christina. At Christina's prompting, he also started taking more of an interest in school.

"He would walk me to all of my classes," Christina said. "He wanted to be a computer engineer. He built his own computer."

Susie Porter said her son had a "daredevil personality" and was currently working with a local lawn-care company. Aaron had dropped out of Leesburg High School after the 2002-2003 school year and had planned on attending an adult education center, school records show.

In June 2003, Porter and his then-girlfriend had a son, Kaleb Aaron Porter. The two were not currently dating, but both had lived with Porter's parents shortly after their child was born. The child was staying with Aaron Porter's parents the night of the accident.

A joint funeral will be held for Porter and Kenneth on Saturday. Beyers Funeral Home in Leesburg is handling arrangements.

Susie Porter said that friends of the boys already have told her the accident has been a wake-up call.

"A lot of them think they are invincible, and they say, 'It can't happen to me,' " Porter said. "But now, a lot of them are saying, 'This made me stop and think.' "

Etan Horowitz of the Orlando Sentinel Staff

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