FAIRVIEW TWP — State police believe a 16-year-old boy who crashed his all-terrain vehicle late Friday night fled the scene of the accident that killed his friend riding on the back.

Criminal investigators also suspect the teen driver may have been drinking.

Lt. Thomas Dubovi said the investigation continues but that the boy could face charges as serious as vehicular homicide.

“We still need to talk to the district attorney to determine if this was a case of gross negligence or not,” Dubovi said this morning.

Police aren't naming the driver, but Karns City School District Superintendent Eric Ritzert this morning identified him as Elijah Myers, a sophomore.

Killed in the crash was 16-year-old Briggs R. Buck of Chicora, also a sophomore at the school.

The wreck happened between 10:30 and 11:30 p.m., at Butternut and Spruce roads in Fairview Township.

Police said the driver lost control of the vehicle and slid sideways into the snow. The ATV rolled, throwing Elijah and Briggs off the vehicle.

Briggs died of injuries in the crash. Elijah suffered minor injuries. Both boys were wearing helmets.

Butler County Coroner William Young III on Sunday said an autopsy determined Briggs died of severe injuries to the head and body.

The boy likely died on impact, Young said. The manner of death was ruled accidental.

Dr. Dennis Keyes, a Butler County dentist, was headed home late Friday night when he and his wife drove upon what appeared to be a crash scene.

They came upon broken vehicle parts scattered along Butternut Road near Spruce Road.

Keyes noticed ATV tire tracks just on and off the berm and a pair of helmets farther off the road, lined by woods.

Most startling, he said, was the body of a boy, who was dead.

“I thought it was a box or maybe trash someone had thrown out,” Keyes said.

As they drove by, the couple got a closer look.

“Oh my god, it's a person,” Keyes recalled what he and his wife said almost simultaneously.

He backed up his car for a better look.

“Sure enough, it was a person. I went to check on him, and he was already gone,” he said

Keyes called 911. That was the first call received at the county's communications center.

But soon after Keyes realized what he had discovered, one question kept nagging him: if this was a fatal crash, where was the vehicle that was involved.

Police would not say how they came to learn the driver's identity.

“He was identified through interviews,” Dubovi said.

Investigators later spoke to Elijah at his home. During the interview, police began to suspect the boy may have been drinking before the wreck.

“We had indications there was alcohol involved by the driver,” Dubovi said, who declined to elaborate.

Police suspect Elijah fled the scene “because he didn't want to get into trouble,” Dubovi said.

But the ATV was far too damaged in the crash to drive away. Instead, Elijah had help.

Someone who was following the boys in a pickup truck stopped after the wreck and hauled the ATV away in the truck.

Police would not identify the pickup driver, who also could face charges. Investigators have interviewed that driver, too.

“We have not determined his culpability,” Dubovi said.

Nearly two days after the crash, neighbors, Keyes and others, remained curious about what happened close by on that road that doesn't have a lot of traffic.

Jeff Cairns, who lives about 300 feet from the crash site, was in his home watching television about 10:30 p.m. Friday when he heard something outside. He described the noise as a “thump” or “clunk.”

He looked out the back window, then the front window, but didn't see anything. About five minutes later, a neighbor called.

“She said she saw something down the road and heard voices,” Cairns said of the neighbor.

After the phone call, Cairns peeked out the window again. He saw the head and taillights of a vehicle. He couldn't make out much of anything else.

“I heard what I thought was a muffled voice, yelling,” he said.

The neighbors can't say for certain but they wonder if what they saw and heard was the ATV crash and the immediate aftermath.

The time frame fits into when police indicated the earliest the wreck could have happened.

About 11:30 p.m., Keyes and his wife were on Butternut Road about to turn onto Spruce Road. Moments later, they found the crash scene and the body.

Waiting for police and paramedics to get there, Keyes had time to look around.

“I saw pieces of a quad,” he said. “A bunch of plastic parts.” Among the parts was a seat that was fully in tact.

He eventually noticed two helmets that were off the road, 40 to 50 feet from where he found Briggs' body.

Keyes assumed that with the debris he found at the scene and given the boy's death, there must have been a “significant collision.”

But he also couldn't find evidence that a tree or utility pole had been hit and most notably, he found no other vehicle there.

He admitted that what he saw — and didn't see — raises questions, such as why didn't the teen driver call for help.

“How could they have taken the quad away but leave (Briggs) there,” Keyes said, “is hard to imagine.”