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The group sometimes crashed in the living room on weekends. Earlier this spring, Krebs said, she found an empty beer can after one of the all-night sessions, but she said nothing.

That night, Krebs said, she went to bed about 11:30 p.m.

After she fell asleep, the teens took her 2006 Toyota Corolla without permission for at least two and maybe three middle-of-the-night rides, she said.

First, the teens picked up Monica's boyfriend. The second time the teens went to get more beer from someone who had promised to provide it, Krebs said. The third trip, just after 3 a.m., was for soda at a nearby 24-hour gas station. Crim, Carl Krebs and Lunden got into the car.

At first, Lunden was behind the wheel, according to Krebs and Investigator Chris Upchurch of the Orange County Sheriff's Office. On the way back, Crim took the wheel, maneuvering down Wabash Road, a gravel drive Krebs describes as narrow and curvy.

Krebs said her son woke her, out of breath, just before 4 a.m. He told her he had climbed from the backseat of the mangled car and that Lunden was badly hurt.

At first, Lunden was able to speak to her twin, Lew said. She had severe injuries to her chest and liver, but Lew said she's not sure which caused her daughter's death. "She said she couldn't breathe," Lew said.

Lunden was buried last Tuesday. Krebs said she let her children attend the funeral but knew she wasn't welcome.

Parental responsibility

Each year since 2000, North Carolina prosecutors have charged more than 2,000 adults with purchasing or selling alcohol for minors or letting them drink. Every year, 800 to 1,000 people are convicted of such crimes, according to the Administrative Office of the Courts.

It often takes a drunken-driving fatality for a prosecutor to hold parents accountable, said Ron Bogle, deputy director of The Coalition for Alcohol & Drug Free Teenagers of Chapel Hill and Carrboro.

"If the parents don't take it seriously, the courts need to take it seriously," Bogle said.

Lunden's mother can't say what lessons she hopes come from her daughter's death.

"I'm still working that one out," Lew said. After a long pause, she said, "I think we as parents hold a huge responsibility in knowing where our kids are at, both physically and emotionally."

(News researchers David Raynor, Brooke Cain and Becky Ogburn and staff writers Lisa Hoppenjans and Sapna Maheshwari contributed to this report.)

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