College students on way to see Grand Canyon sunrise die in crash. Driver prison-bound
A 27-year-old is headed to prison years after officials said he killed three college students in a wrong-way crash in Arizona.
Vincent Ian Acosta was sentenced to 22 years in prison on Jan. 17, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
He pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree murder, officials said.
“There is not a sentence that would do what I wish I could do for all of you, and that is, bring back your beautiful daughters,” the judge said during the sentencing, KNXV-TV reported.
What happened?
The three freshmen roommates were headed to Grand Canyon National Park to watch the sunrise Oct. 10, 2022, McClatchy News previously reported from officials.
Abriauna Brook Hoffman and Magdalyn “Maggie” Louise Ogden, both 18 and from Clarkston, Washington, and 19-year-old Hunter Elaine Kinohi Balberdi of Kula, Hawaii, were in a Honda sedan, officials said.
Acosta was in a Toyota SUV when he drove southbound in the northbound lanes of Interstate 17 and struck their car around 3:51 a.m. near New River, the Arizona Department of Public Safety said.
He also struck a Nissan sedan and a commercial vehicle, authorities said.
Two of the college students died at the scene, and one student was taken to a hospital where she died, troopers said.
Acosta was taken to a hospital with serious injuries, according to troopers. The other drivers had non-life-threatening injuries.
Investigators later learned Acosta had alcohol in his system, above the legal limit, prosecutors said.
The three freshmen students were studying at Grand Canyon University and lived together at the Diamondback Apartments on campus, the university said in an October 2022 tweet.
Balberdi and Ogden were pre-med students studying biology, and Hoffman was studying marketing and advertising, the university said in a 2022 email.
This story was originally published January 21, 2025 at 3:58 PM with the headline "College students on way to see Grand Canyon sunrise die in crash. Driver prison-bound."
