3 teens killed, 2 others injured in fiery Missouri car crash

Three teenagers were killed and two others were injured early Sunday in a fiery Missouri car crash, police said.

St. Louis County officers found the car "fully engulfed in flames" just after 4 a.m., according to a statement. The Nissan Maxima hit a tree on winding Kiefer Creek Road. It was not clear Monday what caused the single-car crash, which remains under investigation.

Three of the teens — identified as Cole Anello, 16; Rhegan Sajben, 15; and Jacob Keifer, 15 — were pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Anello was driving.

Two other teens, a 16-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl, were taken to a hospital. They are expected to survive.

At least some of the teens were students in the Rockwood School District. Classmates visited the scene Sunday, creating a memorial of flowers, stuffed animals and balloons.

Jen Warren, 45, took her two daughters to pay their respects.

“It could’ve been any one of our kids,” she told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “It’s so incredibly tragic.”

Warren added that when she heard about the crash, she ran to her daughters' rooms to make sure they and their friends, who were sleeping over, were safe. She texted the friends' parents when she found them all asleep.

“No parents think their kid is out at 4 a.m.,” Warren said.