State police are calling on the public for help amid their ongoing investigation into a wrong-way crash on the New Jersey Turnpike that left four teens dead.
Authorities on Monday urged members of the community to contact them if they witnessed the crash early Sunday morning or saw a Dodge Ram pickup truck traveling in the wrong direction before it plowed head-on into a Mazda CX-5. The collision occurred around 12:40 a.m., after the truck driver — identified as Christopher Neff of Colorado — crossed from the north to southbound lane of the Turnpike near the 1.3 milepost in Salem County some 25 miles southwest of Philadelphia
Immediately after, a freightliner truck traveling behind the Mazda also struck the vehicle.
Those killed in the collision include 19-year-old Yaakov Kilberg — the driver of the Mazda — 18-year-old Aharon Lebovits; and 18-year-old Shlomo Cohen, all of who are from Lakewood Township, Ocean County. The fourth man was meanwhile identified as 18-year-old Chaim Grossman from Fallsburg, New York.
The group of four were friends and studied at a Jewish school together, according to ABC 6. They were reportedly Yeshiva students enjoying a weekend break.
Neff also sustained serious injuries in the wreck and was hospitalized, police said. His condition was not immediately available.
It remains unclear what exactly occurred in the lead-up to the deadly crash, and no charges have yet been filed.
