A teenager has been left permanently disabled in a horror accident that killed three of his friends after undergoing 11 operations and still has no use of his left arm.
Trevor Bogert miraculously survived a horrific crash that killed three of his friends in February 2023 in Lincoln County, Missouri.
Since then he has spent two and a half months in hospital, followed by seven months in a wheelchair.
His grandfather shared the family’s grief while his grandson continues to struggle with life-changing injuries nearly two years after the tragedy.
Bogert suffers not only physically but also mentally – and has relived the accident “every day since February 5, 2023,” he said.
He underwent 11 operations, 19 blood transfusions and several infections while in hospital, his grandfather revealed. In addition, he still cannot use his left arm or hand and now walks with a limp due to the injuries to his leg.
The fatal crash claimed the lives of William Flickinger, 18, Emily McNees, 17, and Kaeden Tyler, 15, when driver Hailey Zenk – then 17 – lost control while traveling at 80 mph in a 55 mph u-zone and crashed into a tree.
Trevor Bogert miraculously survived a horrific crash that killed three of his friends in February 2023 in Lincoln County, Missouri
He underwent 11 operations, 19 blood transfusions and several infections while in hospital, his grandfather revealed. In addition, he still cannot use his left arm or hand and now walks with a limp due to the injuries to his leg.
Zenk’s lenient sentence — which required her to enter an Alford plea and serve only 120 days behind bars despite multiple charges that could have put her in prison for decades — sparked outrage in the community.
The new details of Trevor’s recovery emerge as Zenk, 19, is due back in court after allegedly tampering with her alcohol monitor twice since her early release from prison.
Zenk was released on bail again last week despite allegedly violating a significant portion of the probation imposed on her following the February 2023 crash in Lincoln County, Missouri.
She was back in court earlier this week after the court was alerted to two counts of tampering with her SCRAM alcohol monitor, and after a judge refused to increase her bail, she was released on a $20,000 bond, which could only be paid in cash.
She will be back in court in February and her lenient probation order may be commuted to jail time after she tampered with the device.
Douglas Meyer, Kaeden Tyler’s stepfather, condemned Zenk’s behavior and said he hopes Zenk is jailed.
‘Every time there is bad news. It’s like opening a new wound,” he told FirstAlert4.
Hailey Zenk, 19, tampered with her alcohol monitor twice after being released on parole earlier this year in connection with a tragic drunk driving accident in February 2023 that killed three of her friends
Emily McNee (pictured) was killed in the horror crash in the early hours of the morning, and Zenk was found to have a combination of drugs and alcohol in her system
William Fleckinger (left) and Kaeden Tyler (right) also tragically died in the crash
“Maybe the mistakes will be righted, and hopefully the judge will do the right thing and see through all the mistakes she’s made since the beginning.”
After her release this week under new circumstances, Zenk was placed under house arrest and is only allowed to leave for treatment, to church or if her probation officer makes an exception.
The crash that killed Fleckinger, Tyler and McNees occurred shortly before 4:30 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023, when police said Zenk was speeding at 80 mph in a 56 mph zone.
Zenk, who was 17 at the time, lost control of the vehicle and crashed it into a tree, killing her three friends. Zenk and another passenger survived the crash but were hospitalized.
The teenage driver was found to have a combination of drugs and alcohol in her system at the time of the crash.
However, the leniency shown to Zenk sparked outrage within the community, as she was allowed to enter an Alford plea – in which she pleaded no contest and admitted no guilt, but acknowledged there was enough evidence to convict her.
Families of the victims condemned the lenient sentence Zenk received earlier this year after serving just 120 days in prison, ‘one month for each of the children she killed’
Police say Zenk was driving 80 mph in a 56 mph zone when she crashed
She was initially sentenced to ten years for driving under the influence resulting in two or more deaths, seven years for DWI causing serious injury and seven years each for three charges of involuntary manslaughter, but the judge decided to suspend the sentence lay.
This meant that Zenk served only 120 days in the St. Charles County Jail before being released on parole, which angered the victims’ families.
‘We are extremely disappointed and outraged. It’s just unthinkable that they think 120 days is going to teach her anything because she didn’t even do that by killing three people,” Jordan Reichert, Kaeden Tyler’s aunt, said at the time.