A roadside memorial marks where four lives ended last Thursday, June 28 in fire, broken glass and twisted metal.
Among the flowers and notes and balloons, are toys and stuffed animals that tell of lives barely begun and much too soon over.
The single-vehicle crash at 17th Street Southeast and R Street Southeast killed three children and the man who was driving that Thursday evening.
Last Friday friends identified the victims as Stanley Cross, 32, his daughter, Xandra, 5, and son, Oso, 5 months old. Cross’ 7-year-old nephew also died in the crash. Three-year-old Zoie Cross survived the crash and was listed in serious condition at Harborview Medical Center.
The victims were members of a prominent family of the Muckleshoot tribe.
The three children died at the scene, according to Auburn Police. Stanley Cross died later that night from his injuries.
Responding to the scene at about 5:22 p.m., police found the SUV ablaze.
Investigators are working to determine what caused the crash, but family members were posting on social media that the man suffered a seizure shortly after he’d picked up the children from a daycare. Police could not confirm that information. The King County Medical Examiner will issue a report.