On a windy Thursday evening, the families of Odin Ratliff and Hunter Jackson gathered with dozens of loved ones and community members at Cedar Valley Stables to remember the two little boys who died due to actions of an alleged DUI driver, two-years to the day earlier.

On May 2, 2022, what was supposed be a day of playing with toy trucks in the dirt inside of a gated corral turned into tragedy when both 3-year-olds were hit and killed after a speeding car veered off the road into the corral and eventually crashed into a stable.

Two years later, Odin’s mother, Theresa Ratliff, says the pain never goes away and the emotions come and go in waves. “You get into, you know, a day-to-day life where you feel like you’re really good and (then) everything just kind of hits like really sporadically,” Ratliff told the Daily Herald. “Like, it will be the happiest day and then, I mean, you get like the littlest memory and you’re just floored right back down to that night.”

On Thursday, the Ratliffs and Jacksons held a two-year remembrance for the boys that they called “Odin & Hunter’s Angelversary” at the same horse stables. Dozens of community members and members of Utah County Sheriff’s Office who responded to the traumatic scene shared loving and emotional memories of both boys.

Amid the somber proceedings, a campfire burned outside of the red gated corral, where inside two kids scooped dirt in and out of the same toy trucks Odin and Hunter were playing with on that tragic day in 2022.

Odin would have turned 5 in April. His mother says therapy has played a big part in coping with his death. Community service has been another layer of keeping Odin’s memory alive. “We like to go and volunteer in memory of him and just do good in his name because he was so kind and wanted to be so kind to everyone, and so that’s how we like to honor him,” Theresa Ratliff said.

Odin and Hunter weren’t related, but Ratliff says both boys loved being at the stable and around the horses, and Thursday’s memorial was a reflection of that. “Just celebrating the boys in the environment that they thrived in, which was here at the barn and, you know, playing with their tractors, being around the horses,” Ratliff said.

The trial surrounding the man accused of being at the center of the crash, Kent Cody Barlow, has yet to bring the families much closure.

The Utah County Attorney’s Office initially charged Barlow with two counts of manslaughter. He also tested positive for having methamphetamines in his system, according to the sheriff’s office, and was on parole for prior charges at the time of the crash. In March 2023, Barlow’s charges were amended from manslaughter to murder.

Ratliff’s family also is suing the state of Utah, blaming state officials along with the Utah Department of Corrections, Utah Board of Pardons and Parole, Utah Adult Probation and Parole and Wasatch Behavioral Health for Odin’s death.

As their fight for justice for both boys continues amid the tragic circumstances, Theresa Ratliff says the outpouring of love and support from the community has been unwavering.

The families are hosting a memorial car ride Sunday honoring the lives of Odin and Hunter. The event will begin at 10 a.m. starting at Cory B. Wride Memorial Park in Eagle Mountain.

Theresa Ratliff says she wants her son to be remembered as a loving, caring soul and enjoyed playing with his tractors at the stables. “This was his safe place and he loved being here every second of every day,” she said.

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