WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. — The Wheat Ridge Police Department announced on Wednesday that it has completed its investigation into an August crash on Interstate 70 that left a newlywed couple and the bride’s mother dead and determined that a crime was not committed.
The crash happened around 8:21 a.m. on Aug. 15 in a construction zone between Ward Road and 32nd Avenue, according to Eric Kellogg, division chief of the Wheat Ridge Police Department.
A semi-truck — which was carrying large, blue plastic piping — was traveling east along I-70 when it flipped over. As it crashed onto the road, the piping came off the truck and spilled onto the eastbound and westbound lanes of I-70, causing at least three other vehicles to crash, Kellogg said.
Three people inside one of those vehicles were killed. Family members identified them as Ruben Rodriguez, 33, Juliana Rodriguez Plata, 37, and Juliana’s mother, Luz Melba Martinez. Juliana’s father, Carlos Joaquin Plata, and the couple’s 1-year-old son, Daniel “Danny,” were also in the car and were injured in the crash.