OMAHA, Neb (KMTV) — Michael Sales and the three young daughters of Rachel Bickerstaff — Amia, Amilia, Amiliana — were killed in a fiery crash on September 27. Sales was on his way home to Council Bluffs from his second job with FedEx when Bickerstaff crashed into him.
WATCH STORY BELOW
- Rachel Bickerstaff, 34, was sentenced to a maximum of 180 years in prison. The earliest she could get out of prison would be in 70 years.
- Bickerstaff had a blood alcohol level of .216 and was driving on Douglas Street at 142 miles per hour.
- Judge Molly Keane said she believed Bickerstaff had "true remorse" but was also concerned about the chances she would misuse drugs and alcohol again and re-offend.
- Laura Sales spoke with me on her drive back home to Kansas City. She described the loss of her father as "a hole that couldn't be filled." She said, "He was a hardworking, just good guy; and recovering from that loss, we're still figuring out how to do that," she said.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
I'm neighborhood reporter Katrina Markel at the Douglas County courthouse.
The defendant was in tears and families were crying as deeply personal statements were read about the victims of a fiery car crash in September.
"I dropped to the floor of my living room, screaming."
Laura Sales described the moment she learned her father Michael was killed in a crash; driving home to Council Bluffs from his second job the night of September 27.
Judge Molly Keane: "The severity of this crash cannot be overestimated."
Thirty-four-year-old Rachel Bickerstaff was two-and-a-half times over the legal alcohol limit, driving 142 miles per hour on Douglas Street, when she crashed into Michael Sales.
Sales — and Bickerstaff's three children in the backseat — were killed.
Sentenced to a maximum of 180 years, Bickerstaff can't get out of prison for at least 70 years. County Attorney Don Kleine called the crash "horrific."
"The sentence is what it should be. Each one of those lives mattered," he said.
Laura Sales spoke with me on her drive back home to Kansas City. She described the loss of her father as "a hole that couldn't be filled."
"He was a hardworking, just good guy; and recovering from that loss, we're still figuring out how to do that," she said.
Bickerstaff sobbed throughout the hearing.
"I would trade my life for all four lives lost," she told the court.
Judge Keane said she believes Bickerstaff has "true remorse," but also that the chance of re-offending was high.
Bickerstaff told investigators she was abusing alcohol and drugs by the age of 12.
When asked what could be done to intervene before a tragedy, Kleine said, "So that's where the intervention needs to take place, as you said, early on, and make people realize there's an issue here or there's a problem, and they need to get some help."
"We feel like justice was served, and we are so sorry for the loss of those three sweet little girls, and we will miss our dad forever," Sales said.
At the Douglas County courthouse, I'm your neighborhood reporter, Katrina Markel.
