Maple Grove Woman Charged In Crash Killing 2 Mounds View Girls

A woman from Maple Grove has been charged with criminal vehicular homicide in a crash that killed two students from Mounds View High School in December. Rachel Diane Kayl, 32, may have been driving up to 80 mph at the time of the crash, according to authorities. The site of the fatal crash was briefly closed last year so students could leave memorials in memory of the two Mounds View students who were killed, Bridget Giere and Stephanie Carlson.

Intersection Where Students Died to Close for Memorials

Giere and Carlson, 16, and Samantha Redden, 17, were in a Chevrolet Equinox on the way to school the morning of Dec. 1 when they were struck at an intersection in Arden Hills. Redden suffered serious injuries but survived the crash. The juniors were turning left from westbound County Road 96 to Old Highway 10 when they were hit by a Chevrolet Trailblazer traveling east on 96.

“I’m surprised at the result,” Martin Giere, Bridget Giere’s father speaking of the filed charges, told the Pioneer Press. “Something was wrong, obviously, but I didn’t realize there was so much speed involved. … It’s unfortunate that people had to lose their lives. … It should never have happened.”

GoFundMe pages

• Stephanie Carlson - We Love You
• Bridget's Tennis Memorial

Images via GoFundMe