A Carlsbad couple were killed and their three children injured when their sport utility vehicle went off the road in Utah, according to authorities in that state.

Tod McFarland, 40, and his wife, Stephanie McFarland, 38, were killed Thursday morning in a one-vehicle accident when Stephanie McFarland reportedly lost control of the SUV or fell asleep at the wheel on Interstate 70 near Sigurd, Utah.

The couple's eldest child, a 7-year-old boy, was taken to a children's hospital in Salt Lake City, where he was listed in critical condition.

The other two children, a 5-year-old girl and a 2-year-old boy, were not seriously hurt.

According to the Utah Highway Patrol, Stephanie McFarland was driving in the far left lane of eastbound Interstate 70, about 150 miles south of Salt Lake City, at 6:45 a.m. when she lost control of the family's 2000 Ford Expedition.

The vehicle veered off the road and into the median, then hit a reflector pole and continued down the median until it hit a mesh-wire fence. The SUV vaulted into the air, flipped end-over-end, then fell off a bridge and onto a highway, where it came to rest, said Utah Highway Patrol spokesman Jesse Valenzuela.

The three children were wearing seat belts or were in child safety seats. The adults were apparently not wearing seat belts, Valenzuela said.

Tod McFarland was a physical therapist, according to neighbors who live on Camino Limero in Carlsbad's La Costa neighborhood. Stephanie McFarland had been a bank employee but most recently was a stay-at-home mother.

“They are very good people. I can't believe it,” said Camino Limero resident Lubica Tomich.

Another neighbor, Maxine Altshuler, was just as shocked to hear the news.

“They were a very devoted couple to each other and their children. It's a real tragedy,” Altshuler said. “We were friends and the children loved my little dog. They were just darling people. They're going to be really missed.”

A spokeswoman for Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City, where the 7-year-old was being treated, said yesterday that several members of the McFarlands' extended family were at the hospital and had not authorized the release of personal information.

Tod McFarland's aunt, Shirley Rehder, told The Salt Lake Tribune that the family was on its way to a wedding at the time of the accident.

She said that Tod McFarland was an avid surfer, and that the family spent a lot of time at the beach.

“They were the most beautiful family . . . never an argument,” Rehder told the newspaper. “They were a very, very close, loving family.”

J. Harry Jones: (760) 737-7579; jharry.jones@uniontrib.com