Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


A truck driver has been sentenced in one court case in connection with Christmas Eve crashes in Ohio in 2022 that killed a Brighton woman and three family members – one of whom was pregnant.

A semi-truck driven by 29-year-old Dayren Rocubert of Florida was traveling northbound on I-75 and went through a cable barrier and the median before striking two vehicles during a blizzard on southbound I-75. It shut down the freeway for almost seven hours.

63-year-old Kimberly Siegrist of Brighton; her two daughters 33-year-old Karen Boehne and 32-year-old Lauren Hahn; and 32-year-old Jeremy Boehne were all killed in the crash. The Boehne’s were both former graduates of Hartland High School.

Rocubert, who sustained minor injuries, was charged with five counts of vehicular homicide as Karen Boehne was pregnant.

Rocubert was initially charged in Sidney Municipal Court in Ohio. That’s where he was sentenced Tuesday to serve 180 days in the Shelby County Jail – which is the maximum time allowed for the misdemeanor charge of vehicular manslaughter. He was also ordered to pay a $250 fine and his license was suspended for five years.

A large group of family and friends from Michigan attended the hearing and delivered victim impact statements, according to the Sidney Daily News.

The News reports that responding officers could not smell alcohol on Rocubert at the time of the crash so misdemeanor charges were filed in Municipal Court but it was noted the results of a toxicology report could result in felony charges at the Common Pleas Court.

The report later revealed Rocubert was under the influence of amphetamines, cocaine, and methamphetamine at the time of the crash. However, a plea deal had already been reached prior to the report coming back on the vehicular homicide count. That charge was what Rocubert was sentenced on this week and separate criminal charges are pending in Common Pleas Court.

The criminal case is currently on appeal for double jeopardy. A judge earlier ruled double jeopardy did not apply, but there is an automatic appeal associated with those types of cases.