ST. LOUIS — Investigators have identified the four people killed in a head-on collision as Carrie McCaw, her daughter Kacey McCaw, Lesley Prather and her daughter Rhyan.
"They were traveling westbound Interstate 64 on the inside lane near the median when the pickup truck came through and struck them," said Cpl. Dallas Thompson, of the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
The four were passing through Lake St. Louis on their way to a volleyball tournament in Kansas City. All four were from Louisville, Kentucky.
"Just looking at the damage of the vehicles it was a horrendous impact and the people in the minivan they probably didn't even have a chance to avoid the crash at the time," said Thompson.
The site of the horrifying scene is just mere steps away from a cable barrier meant to prevent accidents like this one.
"It's not uncommon to see them go through the barriers but the barriers are designed to try to stop them if possible."
5 On Your Side found a video the Missouri Department of Transportation released in 2011. It details how the barriers, which are essentially wired rope anchored on posts- are meant to work.
"As you see here when a vehicle impacts that system it will either come to a complete stop within it or smoothly redirect the car away from it."
In the video- MoDOT says the barriers are effective 95 percent of the time.
"But sometimes depending on how fast the vehicle is going or if it may have been rolling at the time it went into the median it could've landed on top of those cable barriers and continued through them."
The driver of the pickup truck, that police say, caused the accident has been identified as Elijah Henderson.
St. Charles prosecutors say Henderson is the focus of a criminal investigation.
As far as the barriers go, 5 on your side asked MoDOT if there could be an issue with the cables.
We were told it's too early to know that, but they will review the investigative report when it's complete.