NEED TO KNOW
Ivana Balistreri and her daughter Lilliana were killed on a busy California highway in December
Zachary Chernicky was allegedly driving over twice the speed limit before the crash, which set Balistreri’s vehicle on fire
Chernicky faces two counts of murder and is being held without bail ahead of his next court date in August
A Silicon Valley man has been charged with murder seven months after a fiery car crash killed a young woman and her toddler daughter.
Ivana Balistreri, 29, and Lilliana, just two days shy of turning 2, were killed on a San Jose, Calif. highway in early December after a Tesla crashed into them, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement last week. The statement did not name the victims, but soon after their deaths their identities were confirmed by family members who spoke with PEOPLE exclusively.
Investigators have now charged 31-year-old Zachary Chernicky in connection with the killings, the district attorney’s office said in the statement on Friday, July 17.
An investigation revealed at about 10:00 a.m. on Dec. 2, Chernicky was allegedly driving the Tesla more than twice the speed limit on a busy highway when he struck Balistreri’s car “so hard that both the victim’s car and the car in front of them suffered major fire and crash damage,” the statement reads.
Prosecutors allege he was driving 142 mph about 15 seconds before the crash and 102 mph when he rammed into the car, which had stopped in traffic at that time. The mother and daughter burned to death when their car burst into flames.
“The law says that it is murder when someone shoots into a crowd,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said, per the statement. “When someone is driving 140 mph, then the driver is the shooter and their car is the bullet.”
Ivana Balistreri and daughter Lilliana.
Credit: Francesca Alexander
Balistreri was a beloved daughter, sister, mother and fiancé, her family previously told PEOPLE.
“She always pushed me to be a better version of myself,” older sister Rosie Balistreri, 37, who suffers from depression, said in December. “She would always call me and make sure I was okay and try to get me out of bed to go on walks with her.”
Lilliana was the center of the family. “We all gravitated towards her,” Ivana’s other sister Francesca Alexander said. “She was a very happy baby.”
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Chernicky, who suffered minor injuries in the crash, has been charged with two counts of murder and is being held without bail, according to prosecutors.
It’s not immediately clear if he has entered pleas or retained an attorney to speak on his behalf. His next court date is in August.
Read the original article on People
