A street racing crash that killed two teens in Eagan led to two drivers being charged Thursday with third-degree murder and criminal vehicular homicide.
Three vehicles were involved in the 11:20 p.m. June 14 crash near Minnesota Highways 149 and 55 — a Jeep, a Honda Sedan and a Dodge SUV.
The driver of the Jeep, 19-year-old Reed Robert Schultz, and passenger 18-year-old Finnian Thomas Cronin, were found unresponsive. Schultz died soon after and Cronin died at the hospital on July 1.
Law enforcement found the Honda empty. Police learned the 20-year-old driver, Jordan John Wieland, had left in another vehicle, according to the criminal complaints.
Wieland, of White Bear Lake, was located at a local hospital. Police identified 24-year-old Melody Lynn Little as the driver of the Dodge. She wasn’t injured.
Little, of West St. Paul, and Wieland told police they were in a group of five to 10 vehicles at a “car meet up” in South St. Paul, the complaints said.
Surveillance camera footage from the Minnesota Department of Transportation showed all three vehicles speeding south on Highway 149 toward Highway 55. The Jeep and Honda lost control and crossed the concrete median. The Jeep collided with a semaphore pole, severing the vehicle in two.
Speedometers in the Honda and the Dodge were captured on cell phone video moments before the crash, and showed the vehicles were traveling about 110 mph, the complaints said.
The Dakota County Attorney’s Office charged both Little and Wieland with two counts of third-degree murder (perpetrating an eminently dangerous act and evincing a depraved mind) and two counts of criminal vehicular homicide (gross negligence). They were not in custody as of Thursday afternoon.
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