A Gaithersburg family was killed in a terrible chain-reaction crash in western Nebraska Sunday.
Christopher Schmidt, a 10-year veteran of the Air Force, moved his family to Maryland to take a job with the Department of Energy. After about a year, the family decided to move back to their California roots. Schmidt; his wife, Diana, seven months pregnant with a boy to be named Ethan; their sons Samuel, 3, and Connor, 2; and the family’s two dogs and cat were on their way when tragedy struck on Interstate 80 about 40 miles west of Wyoming.
Diana Schmidt was with the children in a Toyota with Chris following in his Mustang when traffic backed up to a stop, but a tractor-trailer did not stop, slamming into the Mustang, which crushed the Toyota as it pushed it into another 18-wheeler and igniting a fire. The Schmidts didn’t have a chance.
“It’s devastating to lose all five in one moment,” said Diana’s father, Brad Baumann.
Joseph Slezak, the driver of the striking tractor-trailer, was charged with four counts of manslaughter.
