A Colorado man faces multiple charges in connection with accident on the way back that killed four teenagers on the New Jersey Turnpike earlier this week, according to online data. court records.
Christopher Neff, 41, was charged with four counts each of first-degree felony murder. death by car and second-degree manslaughter in the Oct. 19 head-on collision between a 2021 Dodge Ram pickup truck and a Mazda CX-5.
According to New Jersey State Police, a Dodge Ram was traveling north in the southbound lanes of the New Jersey Turnpike around 12:40 p.m. when it collided with a southbound Mazda.
After the crash near milepost 1.3 in the Salem County town of Carneys Point, a tractor-trailer rear-ended the Mazda, authorities said.
All four people died as a result of the accident in Mazda. The victims were later identified as driver Yaakov Kilberg, 19, and passengers Aaron Lebovitz and Shlomo Cohen, both 18, of Lakewood, New Jersey, and Chaim Grossman, 18, of Fallsburg, New York.
Neff, who officials said was found in possession of expanding ammunition at the time of the crash, was additionally charged with several weapons-related offenses, court records show.
Additional charges could be filed after first responders reported “strong odor of alcohol” on Neff's breathaccording to recordings reviewed by NBC Philadelphia.
Police said he was also seen on surveillance video drinking at a Carneys Point bar about half an hour before the crash. As a result of the collision, Neff suffered fractures to both legs, a broken arm and other injuries.
It is reported that four victims were friends and classmates in the same yeshiva and were traveling to Tennessee for school holidays.
Carneys Point in southern New Jersey is about 30 miles southwest of Philadelphia.
