On Monday, authorities disclosed the names of seven Virginia citizens and a Wisconsin man who died when their van crashed with a semi-trailer in western Wisconsin. The lone survivor was a two-year-old child.
According to the Clark County sheriff’s office, the van’s driver, James K. McCoy, 46; Linda Byler, 44; Lydia Byler, 24; Orla Schrock, 24; Ellen Schrock, 23; Delila Schrock, 21; Suzanna Hertzler, 18; and a 6-month-old child were killed in the crash at an intersection in the rural community of Dewhurst on Friday morning.
Daniel Liddicoat, 51, of Rewey, Wisconsin, was also killed at the scene while driving a semi-trailer.
“The van was going northbound, and there was a stop sign there,” sheriff’s office Chief Deputy James Hirsch stated. “The semi was going east, and the van pulled right out in front of the semi.”
The two-year-old was one of seven people thrown from the van during the incident, which occurred about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of Eau Claire. The names of that child and the 6-month-old have not been revealed. Their genders were likewise not disclosed.
Nathaniel Jahn, 36, said he was on his way to work Friday morning when he came to a stop at the junction and watched in shock as the van collided with the semi-trailer.
After calling 911, Jahn claimed he raced to the wreckage, where he saw a woman and moved her away from the van before seeing a second woman lying near the front of the truck, which had rolled into a ditch along State Highway 95.
He was cleaning dirt and debris from the second woman’s face when Jahn murmured something that piqued his interest.
I remember hearing a faint whimpering sound. “And it turned into a cry,” Jahn explained on Monday.
“I dug down through the debris, listening for the cries and pulling back the debris, and I noticed there was a little baby—iit turned out it was a little baby boy, but I didn’t know if it was a boy or a girl—iit was just crying,” Jahn said. “But his arms and legs were moving, sort of in the fetal position.” And I attempted to console him while digging around him, I recall.”
Jahn stated that he was highly anxious about relocating the child, but the vehicle was burning and the infant was near the semi. He took up the toddler, wrapped him in his sweatshirt, and transported him to a police officer.
“I knew I had to move him to get him away from that wreckage,” Jahn went on to say.
Jahn, a surveyor and former Marine, created a cross that his two children painted white and his wife, Jennifer, decorated with flowers. They traveled Sunday from their home in Neillsville to the crash site, where he put the cross.
Jahn, who first spoke with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, believes he was at a crossroads for a reason. “To be able to find that little boy and maybe ease some passing along the way,” Jahn went on to say.
Over the weekend, he and his wife went to see the child in the hospital and met his grandparents. He said the encounter made him feel better because he realized the youngster has “a bunch of family to go back to.”
