Tears for US couple who brought laughs to so many before fatal Piarere crash
Thursday, 30 October 2025
An American couple who died in a road crash at Piarere have been remembered as “angels on earth' by friends who have staged a comedy show in their memory to raise both money and laughs for the performers’ families.
Amber Stephens, 34, and Joshua Greenway, 35, were killed in a two-vehicle crash on State Highway 1 at Piarere on October 15.
Police are looking for witnesses who saw poor or unusual driving prior to the crash as they try to piece together what happened.
The couple were in New Zealand on holiday to attend a wedding.
Greenway was a stand-up comic and improv performer from Phoenix, Arizona.
He was a mainstay of the comedy scene in the city, a fan of role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons and also hosted a podcast with friends.
Andre Bryant, 50, knew Greenway for two years and the pair had produced stand-up shows together.
Bryant told the Waikato Times, that Greenway encouraged him to get into Dungeons and Dragons, through which he got to meet “these new awesome people and brilliant and talented, intelligent individuals”.
“We're only on this planet for a blip anyway, but I feel like my blip with Josh was cut short. I wish I had a longer blip with him.
He said the couple were “angels here on earth” and are now “angels in heaven.”
The couple’s friend, Chris Hilfigure started a GoFundMe page, to help ease the families’ financial burden, including funeral costs.
Hilfigure said Stephens was a “great friend and beautiful soul” who saw 'so much beauty in so many small things,“.
“She was inspired, creative, kind, and generous with both her time and finances. She went out of her way to help others, and anyone who met her will not soon forget the impression she made.”
Kayla Howard and her sister Jetuan Whedon also knew Greenway from their time on the stand-up scene in Phoenix.
Whedon, said Stephens had a great love of plants, with 300 in her collection.
She also said Greenway had a quick mind.
“When we wrote together, the biggest complaint was that he was too wordy because he was used to improvising, but he was very quick-witted,” she said.
She said that some of his jokes were dark but “clever and well thought out”.
Howard didn’t know Greenway as well as her sister but said he was “one of the sweetest, safest comedians I have ever met in my two years that I’ve been doing comedy”.
Whedon recalled plans to hang out with mutual friends when she got the news about the couple’s death.
She said they stood outside a theatre, in the middle of Phoenix and cried.
“I’ve been replaying his jokes in my head since he passed because he was just really clever,” Howard said.
Howard was putting together a flyer for a show that Greenway had been set to host and asked Whedon about one of his catchphrases.
It was only then that Howard heard about Greenway’s death.
'He was an amazing comedian and an amazing person, which sometimes it's hard to find both of those in one,“ Howard said.
“I’m going to miss him.”
Following the couples’ death, a tribute show was held on Sunday at Neighborhood Comedy Theatre in Mesa, Arizona - 40 minutes east of Phoenix.
Proceeds from the show went to Greenway’s family.
Bryant, who organised the show, said the show was very much needed, especially for Greenway’s mother and grandmother.
“It brought laughter for his mum. His grandma said it was the first time she’s laughed in a week,” he said.
Hilfigure said the couple’s legacy will last a lifetime.
Taupō road policing Sergeant Shane McNally said police were keen to speak to the drivers of a large truck turning into Horahora Rd and a black car heading south, around the time of the crash.
McNally said people in the black car “may have seen the silver hatchback behind them or attempting to pass”.
Police are urging anyone with information to ring 105, quoting file number: 251016/7055.