Claire Wenzel, 26 of Montpelier, VA was instantly killed by internal decapitation on October 30, 2022, by a drunk driver. The drunk driver's actions created a 7 vehicle Mass Casualty Incident which not only took Claire's life, but caused permanent, life-long disabilities in her 3 friends, and injured 5 others. This crash closed Highway 95 North (stretches from Florida to Maine) at MM 84 for 12 hours. 

The drunk driver, a 46 year old male, had a BAL of 0.12-0.16 (hospital obtained results 2.5 hours after receiving multiple units of blood, and IV fluids). 

He was charged with DWI: 1st offense in Henrico County, VA. This misdemeanor offense carries a fine of $250 and up to 1 year in jail. It is very rare to spend any time in jail for a 1st offense in Henrico County. 

He has multiple aliases, multiple out-of-state driver's licenses, and has an extensive criminal history (25+ charges) in multiple states including a DUI >10 yrs, failure to drive right side of highway, assault and battery, construction fraud, failure to appear felony offense, etc.

Despite killing Claire, our beloved daughter and sister, the drunk driver is not being charged with manslaughter. The DA claims there is no proximate cause for such a charge. We believe otherwise.

We feel the Henrico Commonwealth Attorney's office is unable to fulfill their duties to the citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia due to the many serious and grievous errors that have been made over the last 9 months, combined with personal conflicts and prejudices exhibited within the Commonwealth Attorney's office. 

We, the family of Claire Wenzel, respectfully request Henrico Commonwealth Attorney's office to refer this case to a Special Prosecutor and the Grand Jury. 

We, the family of Claire Wenzel, seek intervention by the Attorney General to appoint a Special Prosecutor to gather and review all evidence including those records not obtained during the investigation and refer this to the Grand Jury.