EYOTA, Minn. – A driver left the Interstate 90 Marion rest stop on the entrance ramp — the wrong way — and caused a collision that killed six people a year ago, the State Patrol concluded. After a lengthy investigation to reconstruct happened, the Patrol said that a Chrysler Sebring, driven by Christopher Peterson, 26, of Rochester, was heading east on a westbound lane about 1:30 a.m. A mile from the rest stop Peterson collided head-on with a Ford Fusion. Three people in each vehicle were killed. It was the worst crash on a Minnesota highway since 2010. The cars were so mangled that authorities had difficulty determining what happened. There were no witnesses. Nor were there traffic cameras. Only GPS coordinates from cell phones enabled the Patrol to reconstruct what happened. Sgt. Troy Christianson of the State Patrol said the coordinates identified the times and distances and the direction of the vehicles. Also, an autopsy helped explain the accident. Christianson said. The finding: Peterson was under the influence of a controlled substance. “That,” Christianson said, “was the cause of the crash.”
Wrong way: Worst traffic accident in a decade. Photo: Minnesota State Patrol
The victims
With Christopher Peterson, 26, of Rochester, in his car were Ester Peters 47, of Rochester, and Shayla Peterson, 23, of Paynesville.
IN the other car, from Waukesha, Wisconsin, on their way to a funeral in South Dakota: Shelia Eagle, 54; Tamara Eagle, 29; and Nyobee Eagle Richardson, 11.