‘An Earth angel:’ Community mourns Hillcrest High student killed in Midvale crash

MIDVALE — After a devastating crash in Midvale Saturday, officials announced Monday the 16-year-old driver who died was identified as a student at Hillcrest High School.

According to Unified police, the student was Elijah Exodus Bustamante Martinez, who was driving the car, with 19-year-old Donny Gabriel Castro Hernandez in the passenger seat. Hernandez was still in critical condition, but had stabilized as of Monday morning.

Elijah, known to his family as “Eli,” was described as someone who reached for the stars and encouraged others to do the same.

Eli’s older sister, Destiny Tovey said he had a way of connecting with people that inspired them.

“He would look at somebody and he would already build kind of a connection with their spirit before he even talked with them, before he got to know them,” she said. “And then when he did talk with them, he would have those one-on-one conversations of like ‘Who do you want to be in the future?’”

Eli’s older brother, Benoni Bustamante, echoed her sentiments.

“Man, he was an earth angel man,” he said. “The one thing I always loved about my brother was no matter what race, no matter what color you were, no matter what religion you were, whatever — he always wanted everybody to just find a beautiful afterlife.”

Eli’s recent achievements

Tovey said Eli had just finished delivering a speech on Friday, the day before he died, at Brigham Young University about how to improve writing for teachers. She attended.

He delivered the speech with a friend, and had many meaningful friends he made at both Hillcrest High School and Northridge High School in Layton, Tovey said.

Eli had also just completed a school project — a video she helped him film.

“We directed it together,” she said. “His goal was to get a Chevy Impala car to be inside of. So that was his main goal, but then he wanted an officer to assist him with the video.”

Tovey said she and her husband suggested they get a costume and have one of them act out the role of the officer.

“No, he had to have a real cop there,” she said. “So he did use the school cop at Hillcrest, and she did amazing with him.”

Tovey said the video turned out “fantastic” and she hoped that the school would play it in honor of him.

Eli was also on the youth city council for the mayor’s office in Midvale, she said, where he would attend every week. Tovey said he founded a writing center there.

He was also running to become the next student body president, she said.

“He wanted to be the president because he felt like he could actually influence others in a good way,” she said. “And I think he was absolutely right with that. I really do.

An aspiring future

In addition to helping others “get their potential in life,” Tovey said he had high ambitions of his own.

“His goal was to graduate high school with a 4.0 GPA and then go on to the University of Utah and become a surgeon,” she said. “And then go to Harvard University after that.”

Above all, he loved his community.

“He really loved his family and his friends, and his mother more than anything,” Tovey said.

He was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and would attend every Sunday, but he would help others find their own connection to their own higher entity.

“He wanted everyone in this life to praise each other to help each other,” Bustamante said. “Not only that but also while we’re here basically like to reach for the stars.”

Tovey said if he had last words for the world, they would be ones of encouragement.

“One thing that he would say is … ‘If you ever feel like you’re down, if you ever feel like you’re not doing well as a person, that you think about me and you think about your goals, and you push forward past your inadequacies,” she said. “Push past that and move forward because anything is possible.”

Eli’s family and friends launched a *GoFundMe to help in their time of need.

*KSL does not assure that the money deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisors and otherwise proceed at your own risk.