GILROY
– A Gilroy High School cheerleader and gymnast died in a vehicle
accident on winding Redwood Retreat Road early Sunday.
Fifteen-year-old Erin Kinkel, who would have started her junior
year at GHS this fall, was killed after being thrown from the bed
of a pick-up truck in which she was riding with three friends just
before 1 a.m. Sunday.
By Lori Stuenkel
GILROY – A Gilroy High School cheerleader and gymnast died in a vehicle accident on winding Redwood Retreat Road early Sunday.
Fifteen-year-old Erin Kinkel, who would have started her junior year at GHS this fall, was killed after being thrown from the bed of a pick-up truck in which she was riding with three friends just before 1 a.m. Sunday.
The driver of the pick-up made an unsafe turn driving westbound on Redwood Retreat near Watsonville Road, veering off the road and striking a tree on the right side, according to the CHP report. Kinkel died while being airlifted to the hospital, according to the California Highway Patrol.
“She was such a beautiful girl,” said her father, Scott, Monday morning. “This wasn’t a bad kid, this was the most perfect kid you ever had.”
Kinkel and three friends, including Anthony McDowel, 18, of Morgan Hill, who was driving the truck, and Ismael Mariscan, 18, also of Morgan Hill, simply went out for a drive according to Kinkel’s mother, Miki. Cassie Lopez, 16, also was riding in the bed of the pick-up and suffered moderate head injuries, according to the CHP.
“I just remember we were laughing when we went around the corner,” said Lopez, who will be a GHS junior. “The next thing I knew, I was rolling on the ground and I was lying on my side, staring at the dirt and I stood up and I saw Erin. …
“We always hung out with a bunch of our friends. We did a bunch of things together.”
Alcohol or drugs did not contribute to the accident, according to the CHP. Seat belts could have protected the two girls riding in the bed of the pick-up from serious injury, the CHP said. While it is illegal to ride in the bed of a truck, authorities said it is unlikely any charges will be filed since alcohol or drugs were not involved.
“These are good kids – they don’t do drugs, they don’t drink alcohol,” Scott Kinkel said. “They were just having fun out on a country road. If we can reach just one kid, because at this age, they think they’re indestructible. We as parents tell them ‘Put your seat belt on’ and they say, ‘Oh, I’ll be OK.’…
“They were just making bad choices: They were speeding and they were riding in the back of the truck.”
CHP officers could not say whether speed was a factor as of press time Monday.
Kinkel “just loved Gilroy High,” Scott Kinkel said. She attended a private high school freshman year, but wanted to transfer to GHS last year, he said.
“She liked the cheerleaders there so much better, she liked the competitive gymnastics team, she loved the kids and the teachers,” Scott said. “She liked everybody and everybody liked her.”
Erin Kinkel was an honors student who, besides competing in nationals and qualifying for the varsity cheerleading team this year, was an avid gymnast and had competed in karate for years.
“She has three younger sisters. She was the big sister who’s taken care of them all,” Scott Kinkel said. “They all looked up to her.”
Younger sister Danielle, 7, “just thought Erin walked on water,” he said.
Lopez recalled watching with Erin Kinkel as her little sister kicked through a board in a karate performance.
“That was a really big thing,” she said.
Kinkel’s smile, which was always spread across her face this summer, is what Lopez said she remembers most.
“Every time we saw each other, she’d run up and give me a hug and jump up to me,” Lopez said. “We were always smiling and laughing.”
Kinkel’s best friend Emily Castillo found out about the accident Sunday morning around 8 a.m. She had been camping with friends.
Kinkel was energetic and cheerful, Castillo said.
Only 5-foot-1 and slim, “Erin could eat like nobody,” Castillo said. “We would go to Mama Mia’s and just eat. That was our thing.”
Castillo and Kinkel met freshman year at Monte Vista Christian High School, where they forged their friendship, and both later transferred to Gilroy High.
Kinkle always had a smile on her face, and a good sense of humor, Castillo said.
“Whenever you needed someone to talk to, you could talk to Erin,” said Castillo, who at one point lived only three blocks from her friend. “I loved her so much.”
The Kinkels moved to Gilroy from San Jose seven years ago. Erin Kinkel has gained so many friends here that her parents, who this morning said they were preparing for what will be a traumatic day, found one thing in which to take comfort.
“Our biggest problem right now is that we don’t know where to have the funeral, where it will be big enough,” Scott Kinkel said. “We don’t know where to send all these people – they loved her so much.”
