Sibley, Iowa — A Spirit Lake woman has been charged with two counts of vehicular homicide after a June 2017 crash near Sibley that killed a Spirit Lake man and a five-year-old boy.
The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office reported that about 10:50 a.m. on Saturday morning, June 10th, 2017, 48-year-old Travis Mier of Spirit Lake was driving a 2001 Toyota westbound on Highway 9, near Nettle Avenue. That’s about three and a quarter miles northwest of Sibley or three and a half miles east of Little Rock. They report that 48-year-old Ann Marie Vanderpool of Milford was eastbound on 9 in a 2012 Chevy and that the vehicles collided head-on.
Mier and a passenger in his vehicle, 5-year-old Elliot Mier were taken to the Osceola Community Hospital in Sibley, where Travis Mier was later pronounced dead. A helicopter later took Elliot Mier to Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls, SD, where he was pronounced dead.
Vanderpool was taken to Sanford Rock Rapids Hospital. Her injuries were termed “serious,” but “non-life threatening.”
Vanderpool has now been charged by the Iowa State Patrol with two counts of vehicular homicide, which is a class B felony. According to court records, Vanderpool has been accused of crossing the centerline and striking the Mier vehicle in Mier’s lane of travel. The document says that Vanderpool gave a consensual blood sample at the hospital, which the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation tested and the result was a blood alcohol level of 0.145g/dL.
A preliminary hearing had been set for March 15th, but court records indicate it has been waived. No further court dates have yet been set.
