Friday vigil for girls killed in weekend crash near Rancho Murieta moved to park
The Friday vigil for two teenage girls killed in the fiery crash near Rancho Murieta on Sunday has been moved to a south Sacramento park to accommodate what organizers described as a “big outpour of support” from the Elk Grove and Sacramento communities.
Ariyonna Orozco, 16, and Piper Conkling, 14, were out for a late-night drive with three friends when their car struck a tree just north of Latrobe Road and caught fire. Emergency responders pronounced Orozco and Conkling dead at the scene.
Samantha Lin, Orozco’s close family friend, initially planned to hold the vigil at her Valley Hi / North Laguna home. But the response prompted her to move the event to North Laguna Creek Park, she said in a Tuesday phone interview.
The vigil will take place at 8:30 p.m. on Friday at the park, located at 6400 Jacinto Ave. at Center Parkway.
“We’re trying to set up a slideshow, pictures, candles. If people want to bring something, that will be given to their families” Lin said. “They touched a lot of lives.”
Orozco and Conkling had not been publicly identified by the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office as of Thursday. Their families were awaiting additional information about the crash as the investigation continued, according to Lin.
“She was an amazing girl,” Lin said about Orozco. “She was so bubbly and funny. She loved her friends so hard. She was such a good sister and big sister.”
Conkling’s family has yet to speak publicly about their daughter’s passing.
Orozco, a former Pleasant Grove High School student, was attending River Valley High School in Yuba City. Conkling attended Pleasant Grove High School, according to Lin.
Students at Pleasant Grove High School gathered at the school’s entrance Monday to leave flowers and pay their respects. On Wednesday, the school’s official Instagram account shared photos of the memorial at the front gates, including signs that read “Once an Eagle, Always an Eagle” and “Forever in Our Hearts.”
The girls’ three companions, who were sitting in the rear seats, were taken to nearby trauma centers with moderate to severe injuries. The students, all of whom attend schools in the Elk Grove Unified School District, had not been publicly identified, and no updates on their conditions were available.
This story was originally published May 20, 2026 at 11:21 AM.