Crime & Safety

Report: Gaithersburg Family of 4 Killed Sunday in Nebraska Car Crash

Christopher and Diana Schmidt and their two children die in a multi-vehicle collision in Cheyenne County, Neb., The Sun Telegraph reported.

A fiery, multi-vehicle collision in Potter, Neb., Sunday killed four members of a family from Gaithersburg, the Sun Telegraph reported.

Christopher Schmidt, 30, his wife Diana Schmidt, 28, and the couple's two children, Connor, 2, and Samuel, 3, were identified Tuesday night by Cheyenne County Attorney Paul Schaub, according to the report.

Christopher and Diana were driving separately in a 2010 Ford Mustang and a 2007 Toyota Corolla, respectively. The children were in the Corolla with their mother, according to the report.

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A tractor trailer collided into Christopher Schmidt's Mustand, which then rammed into his wife's car and "propelled [it] underneath a truck and trailer," the Sun Telegraph reported.

The driver of the tractor trailer that hit Schmidt's Mustang has been identified as Josef Slezak, 36, of River Grove, IL, according to the report. Slezak is charged with eight felony counts, four each of manslaughter and vehicular homicide.

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All four members of the Schmidt family were pronounced dead at the scene.

The accident was one of two in the same area of the highway Sunday. A truck driver was killed in the earlier accident.


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