Bride-to-be killed by drunk driver in wrong way crash just week before marrying college sweetheart
Katelyn Callahan, 23, and Tristen Cherry, 24, were traveling with two teenage passengers on I-44 near Oklahoma City on May 2 when a vehicle driven by 29-year-old Sergio Ibarra entered the highway in the wrong direction and slammed into them head-on, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.
Callahan was pronounced dead at the scene and Cherry, along with the 17-year-olds, Rudi Kroll and Jayli Diel, were hospitalized in critical condition.
The couple was driving back home from the Calf Fry Festival in Stillwater at the time of the deadly crash.
Authorities allege Ibarra was intoxicated at the time of the crash. He now faces charges of first-degree manslaughter and three counts of DUI causing great bodily injury.
Both he and his 36-year-old passenger were hospitalized as a result of the late-night collision.
Cherry and Callahan had been planning to marry on May 31 in Bristow, Oklahoma, after dating for three years.
Though they had vaguely known each other in high school, attending different schools just 10 minutes apart from one another, it wasn't until Cherry asked Callahan to be his date at his fraternity's formal that they called it official.
And they were 'inseparable' ever since, according to their wedding website.
'A once in a lifetime moment of a feeling for the two after dancing, talking, showing common interests and sharing memories and knowledge of mutual friends, they gave it a shot or as they say, God's plan,' the website reads.
'The two have been inseparable since and still adore the time they first locked eyes and felt the strength they both had for each other, little did they know they'd be getting married in the near future. '
The young and in-love pair had recently moved in together, adopted two dogs and were preparing to start their life as husband and wife, before the tragic wrong-way crash derailed their plans.
Following the fatal collision, Cherry spent nearly three weeks in a coma and awoke to the news that his fiancée had died.
He sustained extensive injuries, including a broken femur, a lacerated kidney, 64 facial fractures, seven lost teeth and even had his mouth wired shut.
'He couldn't talk,' Cherry's stepmom, Traci Wages-Cherry, told KJRH. 'His eyes were swollen shut, so he couldn't see.'
The husband-to-be, who was sitting in the backseat at the time of the crash, told KJRH that he remembers the moment just before the accident.
'I kind of sat up in my seat, and I see headlights,' Cherry recalled. 'I said, 'Katelyn, I love you.' And we hit.'
The crash occurred when Ibarra entered I-44 via Classen Boulevard and drove east in the westbound lanes for nearly half a mile before crashing into the couple's vehicle.
'We know Sergio Ibarra entered I-44 at Classen going the wrong direction (eastbound in the westbound lanes) for approximately 1/2 miles,' officials said. 'Ibarra struck another vehicle driven by Katelyn Callahan in the outside lanes of traffic.'
Now, on what would have been their wedding day, Cherry remained hospitalized, surrounded by family and members of the wedding party.
Photos of his bride-to-be in her wedding dress were shared with him as he continued his recovery.
'I saw Katelyn in her wedding dress in pictures,' Cherry said. 'She was gorgeous. All my groomsmen came up. Some of her bridesmaids came up. It was her family, my family. It was a great time.'
A GoFundMe page created to support Callahan's family and assist with Cherry's medical costs describes her as 'on the cusp of a beautiful new chapter,' as the 24-year-old was attending nursing school and was 'full of dreams and determination.'
Cherry says he now faces a long road to physical and emotional recovery but is trying to take it one day at a time.
'The most I can ask for at this point is healing,' he said. 'Healing takes time, and time takes healing.'
The Oklahoma Office of the Chief Medical Examiner says the investigation into Callahan's death is ongoing.
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