Three teenagers died alongside South Australian woman Alicia Montebello in a crash across the border.
Video shot inside speeding car before deadly crash at Bochara in Victoria
The lives of three teenagers and a South Australian woman were cut short when a red Toyota Corolla veered off the road and crashed on the secluded, tree-lined Wannon-Nigretta Falls Rd at Bochara, outside of Hamilton in western Victoria on the morning of May 27.
Around 9.30am a passer-by made the shocking discovery of a mangled vehicle embedded in trees and the bodies of South Australian mother Alicia Montebello, 31, and teenagers Joshua Elmes, 15, Lucus Garzoli, 14 and Meghan Fox, 14.
A fifth victim and the only survivor of the nightmare incident, Jorja Fox, 17, was left fighting for her life as she was rushed to Melbourne’s Alfred hospital with serious injuries.
Police at the scene of the horrific crash. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling
But in hindsight, Ms Montebello’s past brushes with the law and social media posts revealed worrying signs.
Ominous videos posted to social media surfaced following the deadly crash.
In one of the disturbing videos uploaded by Ms Montebello to her little-used, eponymous TikTok account just days before the smash, a young girl believed to be crash survivor Jorja, can be seen in the passenger seat of a car without a seatbelt on.
Newly emerged social media posts have uncovered disturbing elements surrounding a horrifying crash that claimed the lives of Alicia Jade Montebello and three teenagers in regional Victoria.
Alicia Montebello was one of five people in a car crash in Bochara, Victoria that killed four people. Picture: Facebook
The eerie videos also contain a slide show of pictures of Ms Montebello, who is from Adelaide and is understood to have attended Golden Grove High School, with teenage girls, many captioned with proclamations of love.
“Couldn’t imagine my life without the girls. Love you.”
A shocking 16-second video allegedly shot from inside the Toyota just hours before the crash depicts alarming behaviour of the occupants of the car, some of them in their final moments.
With loud music blaring inside the car travelling along a road only lit by the Toyota’s headlights, a male voice can be heard asking, “what’s the speed bro?”
The video zooms in on the speedometer and the voice repeats the question, “what speed are we doing?”
A female answers with “130” before the male responds, “sweet”.
And a father’s plea went ignored as Matthew Elmes, dad to young crash victim Joshua, revealed he had previously warned his son not to get into a car with Ms Montebello, after he believed she was driving dangerously.
Police remove the crashed car at the Bochara crash scene where four people were killed. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling
The Sunday Mail understands Ms Montebello was often seen driving around Hamilton in the same red Toyota Corolla that was found at the scene of the crash.
People who had driven with Ms Montebello claimed she urged them not to wear seatbelts and would drive erratically.
However, police are yet to determine whether she was in the driver’s seat at the time of the fatal incident.
Court documents revealed Ms Montebello had a history of driving offences.
In January 2015 she was charged with drink driving and driving an unregistered vehicle which resulted in her licence being taken away for more than four months.
Just a year later she was charged with driving with a disqualified licence and failing to display P-plates which landed her a 12-day prison sentence.
Her sentence was suspended and she received a further disqualification.
Ms Montebello’s car was impounded on both occasions and she was ordered to pay court costs.
She was also reportedly the subject of an inquiry into grooming allegations.
The Warrnambool Standard reported that those matters related to Ms Montebello allegedly stalking a teenage girl and that the girl’s parents believed she was being groomed.
The contact allegedly involved text messages and a workplace visit.
Ms Montebello later breached her bail by being with two teenage girls on a Hamilton street in the early hours of April 14, the paper said.
She was charged with wilful damage, two counts of stalking and four counts of contravening bail in April and she was fined $700 without conviction.
The Sunday Mail is aware that Ms Montebello had been seen around Hamilton with some or all of the teens involved in the crash.
Grieving father, Mr Elmes, 46, sent out a warning to young people in the Hamilton area in the hope of preventing them from suffering the same fate as his son.
He believed there was a pattern of risk-taking behaviour on nearby roads including speeding.
“If you want an adrenaline rush, it’s probably better to go to a theme park or go skydiving, but don’t get in a car and seek an adrenaline rush,” Mr Elmes said.
“They’re just pushing the boundaries too much, they’re driving too fast just for the adrenaline rush.”
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