Genoa City teen pleads innocent in OWI homicide case

ADVERTISEMENT

Krystal Hart

ELKHORN — The late Everardo Chimal-Lopez, a 54-year-old immigrant landscaper who lived in Delavan, is buried in Mexico.

Krystal A. Hart, a 16-year-old junior at Badger High School, faces a charge of homicide by intoxicated driving.

Chimal-Lopez’s surviving adult sons, Erik and Diego, are at a loss for words.

“It has been hard. There are really no words to express it,” Diego said Thursday after Hart’s arraignment hearing. “We can’t really put words around the situation.”

Hart, 438 Main St., Genoa City, is accused of having a blood alcohol concentration of 0.12 percent following the Nov. 3 crash on Highway H in Como. She is accused of driving her Mercury Sable north in the southbound lane and striking Chimal-Lopez’s Chevy Beretta head-on.

She told police she had been drinking at a friend’s house in Lake Geneva that evening. A marijuana pipe was found in the car, and she told police she used the drug about 10 hours before the crash, according to the criminal complaint.

Hart pleaded innocent Thursday afternoon. She faces up to 25 years in prison and fines totaling $100,000.

On the night of the crash, Erik and Diego, maintenance workers at Grand Geneva Resort, were waiting for their father to pick them up.

When he didn’t come, the brothers figured he had car trouble and started walking home. On their way, they came across the accident scene and recognized their father’s car.

They flew their father’s body to Mexico, where his wife and two teen daughters live.

“They are completely destroyed,” Diego said.

The brothers have no plans to leave Wisconsin. They have expenses and need to keep working, they said.

Hart sustained a broken right ankle in the crash.

Defense attorney Jim Martin declined to comment other than to say he still is reviewing accident reconstruction and blood test reports. He said Hart and her family would not be commenting to the press.

Hart is in court next on Wednesday, Feb. 20.