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| Vera-Strickler, dead |
The Cowlitz County Coroner’s Office has identified the two people who died in a train accident north of Kelso Friday.
The driver was Gildardo Cruz Vera Strickler of Kelso, who would have turned 30 years old on Nov. 30. The passenger was Sonya Sussanna Wallace, 32, of Longview.
Both victims were pronounced dead at the scene after an Amtrak train crashed into their vehicle as Vera Strickler attempted to cross the tracks early Friday afternoon.
Vera Strickler’s cause of death was blunt force head injuries while Wallace’s cause of death was multiple blunt force bodily injuries, the coroner’s office said in a press release. The manner of death for both victims was listed as undetermined because the investigation remains open, the coroner’s office said.
Cowlitz County Coroner Tim Davidson said his office waited to release the names until Wallace’s family could be reached late Saturday morning.
The accident — which occurred at a private intersection the 5000 block of Pleasant Hill Road in Castle Rock — shut down all freight and passenger traffic through the area until the early Friday afternoon while the wreckage was cleared and tracks and the trains were inspected.
There are no crossing arms at that intersection, but there are warning signs on both sides of the tracks. A local woman died at the same crossing in a vehicle/locomotive collision involving an Amtrak train in January 2015.
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Woodland arson investigation leads to Kelso man's arrest
By Leslie Slape
September 23, 2009
Woodland police Monday morning made an arrest in an arson case that has been under investigation since April.
Gildardo Cruz Vera Strickler, 21, of Kelso was booked into the Cowlitz County Jail on suspicion of second-degree arson and malicious mischief, with initial bail set at $30,000.
Woodland Fire Chief Joe Tone said Vera Strickler is suspected of intentionally burning a city maintenance shed, three portable toilets and two trash cans at Horseshoe Lake Park. The April 26 fire caused $12,000 to $15,000 damage, Tone said.
He said investigators have not connected Vera Strickler to other deliberately set fires April 2 and 22, both near Woodland Intermediate School, but the investigation remains open.
Anyone with information about these fires is asked to contact Woodland Police at (360) 225-6965.
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Identities released in Friday Amtrak train accident
By Katy Sword, Columbian staff writer
Published: October 28, 2017, 12:13 PM
Gildardo Cruz Vera Strickler, 29, and Sonya Sussanna Wallace, 32, were killed Friday when a northbound Amtrak passenger train struck their vehicle. The collision occurred on a private road in the Horseshoe Bend area north of Kelso, as reported by The Daily News on Friday.
There are no crossing arms at the intersection where the crash occurred, but warning devices are set up on both sides of the tracks.
Vera-Strickler, the driver, stopped momentarily as the train approached but decided to try and cross the tracks ahead of the train. The car was struck before completely crossing the tracks.
Vera Strickler was a Kelso resident and died as a result of blunt force head injuries. Wallace was a Longview resident and died as a result of multiple blunt force bodily injuries. The investigation is still open.
A standard toxicology analysis is being conducted, with results expected in the next six to eight weeks.
Vera Strickler and Wallace are the fifth and sixth deaths statewide on BNSF tracks this year as the result of a train/vehicle collision.