Friends killed in Templeton car crash remembered as ‘beautiful, happy people’
Two days after a car crash killed four North County friends, their communities are mourning their loss and remembering the impact the vibrant group of young people had on those around them.
Kegin York, Taylan Perez, Shelby Biaggini and Karen Montes Cabrera died on Monday night just east of Templeton after the car in which they were traveling veered down a ditch and hit a tree.
All four friends were in their early 20s and had strong ties to the North County, where they lived and worked.
York was from Creston, while Perez and Montes Cabrera were from Paso Robles. And Biaggini had recently moved back to San Luis Obispo County after living in Bend, Oregon.
York, 22, was driving a 2007 Infinity on Neal Springs Road about 9:30 p.m. when he passed another vehicle and accelerated his car, according to a CHP new release.
When York braked, the vehicle spun out of control and veered down a ditch and into a tree.
The impact with the tree was strong enough to kill York and 22-year-old Perez, 23-year-old Biaggini and 21-year-old Montes Cabrera, even though they were all wearing seat belts, the release said.
Templeton crash victims remembered by coworkers, friends
Friends and co-workers remembered the young people as bright and full of life.
A GoFundMe page created by Lizette Juarez for Perez’s family describes the friends’ deaths as “a huge loss.”
“If you knew Taylan, you know she was a gorgeous, adventurous, and brave young woman,” Juarez wrote. “Taylan was a very good childhood friend of mine and I know plenty of others could say the same.”
York was pursuing a career as a firefighter and graduated from Allan Hancock College in December 2018, said Jeovana Sullivan, his mother.
Biaggini and York worked together at 15 Degrees C Wine Shop and Bar in Templeton, where they were servers, business co-owner Alison Carscaden said.
Carscaden said she had heard about the crash Monday night, and the next day she was told the victims included two of her employees.
“I knew right when the phone rang (who died) was somebody that we knew,” Carscaden said. “We notified the rest of the staff and everybody came in and everybody let their feelings go here, it was a very emotional day here.”
Carscaden said York would often play with her 7-year-old son when he came to the shop. Both York and Biaggini were kind-hearted individuals, she said.
“Both of them are just young and positive and beautiful, happy people and they were both very, very good friends,” Carscaden said.
“Kegin was just super easy-going — he would always play with my son,” she added.
Biaggini also worked with Montes Cabrera at Joebella Coffee Roasters in Atascadero, said Marshall Gould, the coffee shop’s roaster.
Biaggini had recently moved back to the area, and Joebella staff members were adding her back onto the shop’s schedule, employee Amanda Scott said.
The two friends were an integral part of the close-knit group of Joebella employees and customers, Gould and Scott said.
“Losing the two of them really feels like a community loss,” Scott said.
Gould described Montes Cabrera as “such a bright spot” to those who knew her.
“Karen was so full of love,” Gould said. “She was such a vibrant, bright personality.”
Montes Cabrera volunteered at the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden, and she planned to travel to Spain and work on a farm before the coronavirus outbreak, he said.
Scott said she and Biaggini were close friends and “kind of the curmudgeons of the shop.” She described Biaggini as “extremely outspoken,” as well as “strong” and “fierce.”
“She was just very pragmatic and very social and wanted to experience every moment,” Scott said. “And I think she did.”
This story was originally published July 1, 2020 at 3:10 PM.
