Inset: Kristi Lichtenwalner (Racine County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The area of Durand Avenue just east of 67th Drive, where Kristi Lichtenwalner drunkenly caused a rollover crash that killed a 37-year-old man from Kenosha, Wis., in 2022 (Google Maps).
A Wisconsin driver is headed to prison for a deadly drunk driving crash that sent her passenger flying 30 feet out of the car and into a ditch, causing his head to be “split open, exposing his brain,” according to court documents.
Kristi Lichtenwalner, 38, of Racine County, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Monday for the 2022 rollover crash, which left a 37-year-old Kenosha man dead, according to her criminal complaint obtained by Law&Crime. She pleaded guilty in August to homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle.
The victim, who has not been publicly identified, was the owner of the red Cadillac SUV that Lichtenwalner was driving that night. Her blood alcohol level was 0.245 when tested by cops, more than three times the legal limit. Police found an “opened bottle of Old Smoky Tennessee Whiskey inside of a purse” near the driver’s seat that was later linked to Lichtenwalner, per the complaint.
“Upon arrival, deputies observed … an unresponsive male laying on his stomach approximately 30 feet to the east of the vehicle in the south side grass ditch of Durand Ave,” the complaint says. “The male’s head appeared to be split open exposing his brain and close to where he was laying there was exposed brain matter in the gravel.”
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Over by the vehicle, cops found two women “sitting on the ground” and one of them, identified as Lichtenwalner, “appeared to be in great distress, crying and screaming,” according to police.
“She was not able to formulate words,” the complaint says. “While [a deputy] was attempting to talk with Kristi, he could smell the odor of intoxicants coming from her breath.”
Lichtenwalner had “scrapes all over her face, and a large scratch on the right side of her nose with skin peeling off,” per cops. She was treated and “secured” by deputies at a local medical center inside its emergency room, where she denied being the driver.
“Lichtenwalner said that [the victim] had been driving during the time of the incident,” the complaint states. “She indicated that prior to the incident, Lichtenwalner and [the victim] were at Lichtenwalner’s residence in Union Grove.”
Cops asked Lichtenwalner “numerous times whether she was driving the Cadillac,” and she repeatedly said no. “Lichtenwalner advised she was not wearing her seatbelt during the crash, and that her and [the victim] had been drinking ‘quite a bit,'” the complaint says.
Lichtenwalner’s “speech was slurred” while speaking to police, prompting cops to draw her blood. Data was downloaded from the SUV’s airbag control module, along with other evidence — including a “long strand of hair embedded in a shattered area of the front driver side window” — which helped prove that Lichtenwalner was the driver.
Investigators also found a “blood stain in the center of the airbag,” which was sent in for DNA analysis and “tested positive only to Lichtenwalner,” the complaint says.
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“Lichtenwalner had an abrasion to the bridge of her nose after the accident,” the document notes. “This is consistent with injuries commonly associated with being struck by an airbag during a motor vehicle accident.”
A witness told police that they saw Lichtenwalner and the victim depart in the Cadillac that night and that they chose to “switch seats” before driving away, with Lichtenwalner being the driver. Surveillance footage from a local liquor store that they visited and other businesses also showed Lichtenwalner behind the wheel while “en route” to the crash site.
“Deputies concluded this leaves little to no time to allow Lichtenwalner and [the victim] to switch seats a second time,” the complaint says.
After compiling the evidence and completing their investigation, the police attempted to speak with Lichtenwalner in August 2023 about what had happened, and she “responded something to the effect of needing to talk to her attorney,” according to the police.
