Missouri State Representative Jeff Vernetti says he miraculously escaped unscathed after his vehicle caught fire on I-44 in the St. Louis area, last week.
Vernetti was driving his 2018 Maserati — which he recently bought used after giving his daughter his truck — on the interstate on a very rainy Saturday, Oct. 18, when he said a semi-truck began hydroplaning and careened toward him. Vernetti said in avoiding the truck, he too began hydroplaning. His vehicle crashed through the metal guard cables separating the two sides of the highway, went into oncoming traffic, and then came to rest in the median, he wrote on Facebook.
Then, he wrote: “Seeing that it was still raining and I was in a terrible spot, I attempted to limp the car along to a safe exit and get in a better location. I had no warning lights on my dash at all, and no engine lights. I was able to go about ten miles very slowly, but then I lost all power in the car. When I got it pulled over, within seconds it burst into flames – surrounding the windshield and drivers side door completely.”
Vernetti said he hurriedly got out of the vehicle and was miraculously able to escape unscathed. The Maserati was soon engulfed in flames and destroyed by the fire.
Two days later, he returned to the vehicle to sift through whatever might be left. Anything perishable had been destroyed, he said… except a small, rubber image of Jesus. He wrote: “Not melted. No soot or dirt. Not a mark on it. Everything else showing signs of the fire, except Him. And its amazing how this small rubber Jesus is the perfect symbol for what protected me Saturday and got me back home – unharmed – unburned – like He was… But without question – He was with me. He kept me from the fire and He kept me from the end. There’s no other explaination. When my time does come, I’m glad He will be with me.”
Vernetti recently came onto LakeExpo’s new podcast Take on the Lake to talk about how the 2025 Missouri legislative session impacted the Lake area, and the battles he sees on the horizon. Here’s that interview:…