TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR

On Sunday, June 13, 2021, at 1:25 p.m., a crash occurred on US Highway 51 in the southbound lanes at Mile Marker 199 in Marathon County near Brokaw.
According to a press release from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, a gray 2016 Subaru Forester occupied by only the driver, 27-year-old Garrett B. Kohel of Wittenberg, was traveling southbound on USH 51, near Brokaw. That vehicle rear-ended a silver 2018 Honda CRV with four occupants, causing the Honda to rear-end a 2018 Blue Toyota Highlander being driven by Robert Castro, age 58, of Davenport, Iowa. Neither the driver, nor the passenger in the Toyota, 54-year-old Julianna Castro, also from Davenport, Iowa, were injured in the crash.
Sadly, the two rear occupants in the Honda, 88-year-old Ralph F. Rosenbecker and 99-year-old Darlene I. Rosenbecker, both of Muckwanago, Wis., were severely injured and were pronounced dead at the scene. The Honda’s driver, Lisa A. Cooper, age 56, and her front-seat passenger, Brian J. Molinaro, age 64, both from New York, were not injured.
The Marathon County Sheriff’s Office, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, Merrill Police Department, Wausau Police Department, Maine Fire and EMS, Wausau Fire and EMS, Merrill Fire Department, and Pine River Fire Department all assisted at the scene. Wisconsin State Patrol is conducting the crash investigation, with the Marathon County Sheriff’s Office conducting the crash reconstruction.