A North Carolina teenager is facing serious charges after an alleged drinking and driving incident resulted in the death of a 14-year-old cyclist and left another young man critically injured in a separate collision.

Authorities report that 16-year-old Ashton Rahlfs, a student at Holly Springs High School, was arrested following a tragic series of events on Avent Ferry Road in October. Rahlfs, driving at over twice the speed limit, struck and killed 14-year-old Max Dunham.

After the initial crash, Rahlfs reportedly veered into oncoming traffic, colliding with a vehicle driven by 19-year-old Brandon Russell. Russell suffered extensive injuries, requiring a lengthy hospital stay, according to his family’s statements on a GoFundMe page that depicts his “shattered” condition.

In November, Rahlfs was indicted by a grand jury on several charges, including second-degree murder, felony death by motor vehicle, felony serious injury by vehicle, driving while impaired, and underage drinking and driving.

Search warrants, recently disclosed and reviewed by WRAL News, show that a video taken by Rahlfs captured a Twisted Tea can in the car’s cup holder just minutes before the fatal incident.

Investigators at the crash scene discovered a crushed Twisted Tea can, with an additional seven cans found nearby in the wooded area, some of which were opened or punctured and empty.

Warrants for Rahlfs’ iPad revealed photos and videos of Twisted Tea boxes, a Party Pouch, other liquor and a trash bag stuffed with empty cans. 

Several alcoholic beverages were also seized from Rahlfs’ family home in Holly Springs, according to the outlet. 

Ashton Rahlfs (pictured), 16, a sophomore at Holly Springs High School in North Carolina, allegedly drank Twisted Teas before driving drunk in October, killing a 14-year-old bicyclist and critically injuring another teenager

Holly Springs police said Rahlfs was driving a Honda Civic carelessly and recklessly near Holly Meadow Drive at around 1:40am, traveling well above the 35 mph speed limit when he killed Dunham (pictured)

Investigators confiscated empty bottles of tequila, whiskey, and vodka, beer cans and 12- and 18-packs of Twisted Tea. 

‘Whenever it’s minors involved, it is a preventable, tragic case that happened with the worst possible outcomes for everybody involved,’ Emily Ferraro, State Executive Director of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, told WTVD News last year.

‘The younger you are when you start drinking, the more likely you are to have alcohol related crashes,’ she added. ‘Almost a third of teens that are killed in a fatal crash involve underage drinking.’

On October 26, Holly Springs police said Rahlfs was driving a Honda Civic carelessly and recklessly near Holly Meadow Drive at around 1:40am, traveling well above the 35 mph speed limit ‘for a significant time.’ 

After fatally striking 14-year-old Dunham on his bike, he crossed the center line and slammed into Russell’s Honda Passport, authorities said.

Lynwood Montague, who lives nearby, told ABC 11 News he contacted 911 after hearing the impact of the crash. 

‘I was up around 1:30am watching TV, and when all of a sudden I heard this loud crash,’ Montague told the outlet.

‘I got up, went outside and was looking around, and all of a sudden I heard the worst screaming I have ever heard and moaning,’ he added. ‘I just knew it was bad.’ 

Rahlfs then crossed into oncoming traffic and slammed into a car driven by 19-year-old Brandon Russell (pictured), who spent weeks hospitalized after his family said his ‘body was shattered’

Newly returned search warrants obtained by WRAL News revealed that the teen recorded a video showing a Twisted Tea can in the car’s center cup holder just eight to 10 minutes before the crash (pictured: Dunham)

The violent collision caused severe damage to Russell’s car and left him pinned inside until firefighters with Holly Springs Fire Rescue were able to extricate him. 

‘They had to use the “jaws of life” to extricate my son from the vehicle,’ his mother Kathleen wrote to GoFundMe. ‘This took more than 30 minutes.’

In newly released search warrants, an officer who spoke with Rahlfs at the scene said, ‘I immediately noticed he had extremely red and glassy eyes,’ according to WRAL. 

The teenager agreed to a sobriety test but denied consuming any alcohol, marijuana or other drugs that could have impaired his driving, the outlet reported.

According to the warrant, Rahlfs admitted to drinking a non-alcoholic energy drink before the crash, but a roadside breath test indicated his blood alcohol level was nearly twice the legal limit.

Later tests conducted at the Law Enforcement Center revealed that Rahlfs’ blood alcohol content was 0.11, police said.

The high schooler was immediately charged with violating his driver’s permit restrictions, driving after consuming alcohol under 21 and driving while impaired on the morning of the crash. 

Russell was taken to the Surgical Trauma Intensive Care Unit (STICU) with extensive injuries from the crash, requiring dozens of surgeries and blood transfusions to repair, his family said.

The violent collision caused severe damage to Russell’s car (pictured) and left him pinned inside until firefighters with Holly Springs Fire Rescue were able to extricate him

Rahlfs allegedly admitted to drinking a non-alcoholic energy drink before the crash, but a roadside breath test indicated his blood alcohol level was nearly twice the legal limit (pictured: Russell)

He suffered two broken arms that required plates and screws, two compound fractures in his right leg and a compound fracture in his femur that was repaired with a rod. 

His lower leg was fractured, the ligaments in his right knee were torn above and below the kneecap and he suffered deep contusions and abrasions to his left leg, knee, foot and ankle. 

‘He has bilateral deep contusions to both of his lungs and his left lung had collapsed. He has a chest tube on the left side. He also has a broken rib on the left side. He remains on oxygen,’ Russell’s family wrote.

‘His kidneys have suffered severe trauma and are struggling,’ they added. ‘His blood pressure remains extremely high, along with his heart rate, as his body is trying to keep up with the demands of the trauma that it sustained.’

Months later, he was finally ready to return home, where his family installed a wheelchair ramp to support his continued long road to recovery.

Dunham’s death sent shockwaves through the high school, with classmate Brice Boylan admitting he was ;distraught and didn’t know what to do,’ according to ABC 11. 

Sam Cruz, another friend, added: ‘You know, you’re 16, you have a whole life ahead of you and you’re choosing to drink.’

Dunham’s father also shared that he lost his son just months after he lost his wife to cancer.

Dunham’s father told ABC 11 News that he lost his son just months after he lost his wife (pictured) to cancer

An officer who spoke with Rahlfs at the scene said, ‘I immediately noticed he had extremely red and glassy eyes,’ according to the warrant (pictured: Dunham and mother)

After weeks of ‘diligently and meticulously reviewing all aspects of the case,’ authorities gathered sufficient evidence to support the charges brought by the Wake County District Attorney’s Office and deemed warranted by the grand jury. 

A Wake County grand jury then returned an indictment against Rahlfs, adding a second-degree murder charge along with felony charges for death by motor vehicle and serious injury by vehicle. 

‘I would like to thank the public, and in particular the Dunham and Russell families, for their patience as we ensured that this case was thoroughly and accurately investigated,’ Holly Springs Police Chief Paul Liquorie said in a news release.

‘I also would like to recognize the exhaustive efforts of the officers and investigators, and other first responders, who performed extraordinarily throughout this complex investigation,’ he added.

Chief Liquorie told ABC 11 after the arrest that he hopes both teens and their parents learn from the tragic incident.

‘My hope is that sentencing and this indictment are lessons for the youth in our town and elsewhere, that the choices they make can have dire consequences that cannot simply be fixed or taken back and will impact themselves and others for the rest of their lives,’ he told the outlet.