Darla Woodward and her two young grandchildren could have easily been killed. Kathleen Lursen, too. So when faced with a fire that destroyed and displaced both of the women that live on either side of a single-level duplex overlooking Stonehenge Golf Course off CR 275E, Woodward and Lursen both subscribe to the “it could have been worse” theory. That doesn’t rebuild houses and replace belongings, though, so the women whose homes and lives were debilitated when a speeding SUV hit a dip in the road and slammed into a van then the duplex, sparking a wild blaze on Aug. 16 are now calling for some accountability and action. According to a Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department crash report, a black 2002 Mercury Mountaineer driven by Cory J. Byall, 19, Fort Wayne, was southbound on CR 275E at 70 to 80 mph in the 35-mph zone there when he hit a dip in the roadway, bottoming out the SUV. The impact caused Byall to lose control of the vehicle, he told police, and as he tried to steady the speeding vehicle, it left the roadway and hit a silver 2000 Chrysler Town and Country minivan, registered to Valerie D. Rodgers, of 1500 W. CR 1400N, North Manchester. A witness told police she saw the Mountaineer airborne before the crash, the report said. The SUV then careened off the van and sped into the front of the duplex, the report said. The crash ignited a fire in the duplex. Byall told police that he then pulled his passenger – Wayne C. Weinhold, 19, of 1241 N. Riverwood Ranch, Warsaw – from the SUV before it became fully engulfed in flames, the report said. Fire spread to the van, as well, fully engulfing it in flames before igniting the duplex, the report said. The aftermath is horrific - structurally. “It could have been worse.” Fifteen minutes before the crash, Woodward and her two grandsons - 6-year-old Brady and 4-year-old Carter - were riding bikes and scooters in the driveway beside Woodward’s daughter’s van, parked there because she borrowed Woodward’s car to go to a college class. As the sun began to dip, Woodward called the boys inside. Fifteen minutes later, an SUV sped through a driveway that could have had two children playing in it and slammed into the van that shouldn’t have even been there, before bulling through the corner of Woodward’s living room, five feet from where she was sitting on the couch watching her grandsons play. Woodward looked out to see sparks and a leaking gas tank, scooped the boys and ran from the home. By the time a 911 operator answered, the home was burning, she said. Woodward rang Lursen’s doorbell, and both women and the boys watched as the duplex Woodward owns and Lursen rents burnt. The boys refuse to return to the home, Woodward said. Lursen, too. Lursen said this crash is the fourth in the 12 years she’s lived in the home, each she says caused by the dip in the road 100 yards north of the duplex that befuddles speeding vehicles. One sent a car through a tree line and onto the golf course. Another destroyed the same rock retaining wall that met its demise this most recent crash. Lursen, whose side of the duplex sustained only smoke damage but shook up her two cats, is now moving from the home, admittedly scared away and refusing to wait for the next inevitable crash. “It’s time for me to go,” said Lursen. “Four times is more than enough. I don’t need another sign from God; I get the message.” As Lursen searches for new residence, Woodward, who was able to move into a home the following day provided to her by Woodward Realty, is assessing the damage of her home. She estimates she lost 80 percent of her belongings, including several antique pieces, furniture, appliances, clothes, toys and the irreplacables like photographs. Inside, the home is a charred shell, the hole where the SUV plowed through now boarded and blackness illuminated by the sun beaming in from holes in the roofing. A photograph of Woodward’s grandson now is a unrecognizable bubble of heated glass. All done in by excessive speed. Friday, charges were forwarded to the Kosciusko County Prosecutor’s Office against Byall, alleging he had been driving under the influence with marijuana in his system at the time of the crash. The news seemed to offer some clarity to Woodward and Lursen, who want Byall to understand the way in which the actions he’s alleged to have committed have affected their lives. “We just want him to know what we’ve gone through the last two weeks,” said Lursen, before wondering aloud whether an apology from Byall would do anything to dull the pain. “I don’t know whether I want to look him in the face,” Woodward responded. The message Woodward and Lursen want to get across now, though, is one of a need for change. The women are working to see a stop sign put in at the dip in the road, or see the dip leveled out. “There’s been four accidents. Don’t you think it’s time to fix that dip or put a stop sign?” asked Woodward. “It just takes somebody doing what (Byall) did and life changes,” added Lursen. “This could have been catastrophic. It really could have been worse.”Lursen is searching for a “nice country rental near Warsaw” to rent immediately that will accept her and her two cats. If you have any leads on a two-bedroom unit with a washer and dryer and an attached garage, contact her at 574-549-2182 or 574-267-1422.
