| Graduation Year | Class of 2009 |
| Date of Passing | Jul 13, 2009 |
| About | Homicide charge filed against driver in fatal crash that killed Winneconne teen NORTHWESTERN STAFF • JULY 15, 2009 A Larsen man is charged with homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle and driving after license revocation for his role in a fatal one-car accident Saturday morning. According to the criminal complaint, 20-year-old Theodore V. Eckstein was drunk when he struck a power pole on Umland Road in Winchester. Eckstein's Nissan 300ZX flipped over, ejecting the passenger, Michael T. Janasik, 18, and pinning Janasik under the overturned vehicle. Janasik, of Winneconne, was flown by helicopter to Theda Clark Medical Center, where he died Monday morning. Following the crash, Eckstein ran to a nearby barn and told three people there that he had flipped his car and needed help moving the car off of Janasik. When one of the people in the barn called 911, Eckstein said, "I was never here," and ran through a field toward his family's farm, the complaint states When he was found hiding under a van by a police K-9 search team, he told a police officer that the officer had no business on the family's property. He laughed and told the officer, "You don't have anything on me," the complaint states. One of the people in the barn said Eckstein had been drinking what he believed to be whiskey 10 to 15 minutes before the crash and was slurring his words. Results of a blood-alcohol test still are pending. Eckstein was previously convicted of drunken driving in August 2007. At the time of the accident, he was free on bail on a disorderly conduct charge and under court order not to consume alcohol. If convicted, Eckstein faces up to 41 years in prison and more than $100,000 in fines. |
