The Mother Who Never Stopped Believing Her Son Was Still There

Photographs by Sarah Blesener

The Toyota pickup hit the tree that May morning with enough explosive force to leave a gash that is still visible on its trunk 39 years later. Inside the truck, the bodies of three teenage boys hurled forward, each with terrible velocity.

One boy died instantly; a second was found alive outside the car. The third boy, Ian Berg, remained pinned in the driver’s seat, a bruise blooming on the right side of his forehead. He had smacked it hard—much harder...