Monday, January 21, 2002
'SO, SO SAD'
Small town mourns loss of mother, 4 children in 'Carnage Alley' crash
By JENNIFER MORRISON AND TRACY MCLAUGHLIN, TORONTO SUN
ORILLIA -- Heads were bowed and tears flowed freely yesterday at the Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall in Orillia after a local family was wiped out in a "Carnage Alley" accident near Windsor.
Jamie Steinhoff, 25, and her four children were killed instantly Saturday when their family van was rammed from behind by a transport truck on a notorious stretch of Hwy. 401, just east of the border city.
Her husband Robert Steinhoff, 29, is clinging to life at Hotel Dieu Hospital in Windsor, sedated and unaware he has lost his family.
"God, power of the universe, it is like we are on a rollercoaster," elder Markus Keornig said in a tribute to the Steinhoff family of nearby Coldwater. "We are so, so sad ... but we have hope."
As he prayed, the row of the small church where the family always sat together remained empty.
After the service, members talked about the family they were just beginning to know.
"It is so tragic," Sandy Ferguson said. "The little girl, Storm, was just getting to be good friends with my four-year-old granddaughter. They were so cute."
On the path to the Steinhoffs' home, footprints on the snowy sidewalk left a sad reminder of the four dead children.
The couple moved to the small town last fall in search of a fresh start. They brought with them their three children Storm, 4, Seth, who would have turned 3 in March, and Saffron, 21 months. Last month, Robert's son from a previous marriage, eight-year-old Robert Hughes, came to live with them.
CRUSHING VAN
The family left its Coldwater home at 10 p.m. Friday, headed to Amherstburg to visit family. Hans Jauer, another minister with the church in Amherstburg, said Jamie's parents, Jim Kaput and Bev Blain, live in Amherstburg and were looking forward to seeing them.
Jauer said the family probably figured it would be easier travelling on Hwy. 401 through the night. Hours later, their 1990 Plymouth Voyageur was rammed from behind by a transport truck, crushing the van.
Ontario Provincial Police investigators say there is an indication the minivan was travelling at a very slow speed or was stopped when it was struck. A witness told police he drove past the minivan about five minutes before the accident and saw the vehicle parked on the paved shoulder, its emergency lights flashing.
Police said Jamie and Seth were thrown from the van, while the other kids died in their seats. Also killed were at least two of the family's Akita puppies.
The couple celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary on Dec. 17.
"They wanted to get their life in order and they were well on their way to doing that," Jehovah's Witness elder Kevin Morrison said.
He said the Steinhoffs were a tight-knit, loving family that had made some positive changes over the past few months.
"Jamie was a really sweet person. She had a good heart. She was very close to all her children and it was evident in all she did," Morrison said.
"Bobby was really trying to be the best father he could be. He loved his children too," he said.
"He's going to be devastated. He's just lost everything that means anything to him."
"I think they probably have made a bigger impact than they would have guessed or that people may realize," said Colin Bidmead, owner of the Coldwater general store where Jamie worked occasionally.
Next-door neighbour Sharon Saunders said she'd become close to the couple through a shared joy of painting.
'BUBBLY COUPLE'
"They were just a vibrant, bubbly couple. You couldn't help but like them," she said, with tears in her eyes. "And they had dreams. You just don't see that in young people any more."
The stretch of Hwy. 401 where the accident occurred has earned a reputation as being one of Canada's deadliest.
A total of 29 people died on the London-Windsor stretch in 1999, including eight in a fiery 80-vehicle pileup on Sept 3. Ten people died in 2000.
The transport's driver, Kevin McPhail, 36, escaped without injury.
He told police he did not see the Steinhoffs' van, which may have been travelling slowly and without headlights when Steinhoff took it off the gravel shoulder and on to the westbound highway after changing a flat.