By Kim McDarison

An Elkhorn woman has been arrested in connection with a fatal vehicular crash in Rock County last April which killed four people.

According to information released Tuesday by the Rock County Sheriff’s Office, Lexus D. Boedecker, 24, was arrested Monday and charged with four counts of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle — controlled substance, one count of operating with a detectable amount of a controlled substance, and two counts of injury by intoxicated use of a vehicle —controlled substance.

The Rock County Sheriff’s Office concluded its investigation of the crash Monday.

Boedecker was taken into custody, according to the release, “with assistance of the Walworth County Sheriff’s Office,” and transported to the Rock County Jail.

A court date has been set for Aug. 26 at 1 p.m.

The three-vehicle fatal crash occurred on April 13 at the intersection of U.S. Highway 12 and East County Line Road in the town of Lima and near Whitewater. Following the crash, two adult females, and an adult male were declared dead at the scene. A fourth individual, an adult female, died from injuries sustained during the crash “days later,” the release read.   

In April, WhitewaterWise reported that a passenger van was traveling eastbound on East County Line Road approaching Highway 12.

The driver of the passenger van did not adhere to the stop sign entering the intersection, according to information provided in April by the Rock County Sheriff’s office.

Rock County Sheriff’s Deputy Sgt. Kevin Skatrud confirmed by phone Wednesday that Boedecker was the driver of the van.  

There was a passenger SUV, with the right of way, southbound on Highway 12. The front of the SUV collided with the driver side of the van in the intersection, information released in April continued. 

As they collided, the April release noted, a truck pulling a fifth wheel trailer hauling hay was northbound on Highway 12. The driver side of the trailer collided with the front of the van. During the crash two adult females and one adult male were ejected from the van.

Those three individuals were later declared deceased on scene.

The female adult driver of the van sustained non-life-threatening injuries as did the adult male driver of the SUV. The driver of the truck was uninjured.

There were four additional passengers from the van that were transported to nearby hospitals.

One of them, an adult female, was transported via Med Flight with life threatening injuries. The other three, two adult males and an adult female, had severe but non-life-threatening injuries, according to the sheriff’s April release.

On Thursday, April 18, the sheriff’s office reported that the injured female died, noting that she had “succumbed to her injuries during the early morning hours.”

Among those who died as a result of the crash were Jeffrey Harrison Turnipseed, 67, of Watertown, and Jamie Lynn Ranguette, 39, of Fort Atkinson. Both died on April 13.

Families of the two decedents shared their obituaries with WhitewaterWise.

Three others passengers from the van that was involved in the crash, two adult males and an adult female, were described as having “severe, but non-life-threatening injuries.”

An earlier story about the crash is here: https://whitewaterwise.com/investigation-continues-fourth-individual-involved-in-saturdays-crash-dies/. 

As stated in the sheriff’s recent release, “Pursuant to the directive of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, as found in Supreme Court Rule 20:3.6, Trial Publicity, you are advised that a charge is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.”

This story has been updated.