Inset: Bjorn Hartzell (Maricopa County Sheriff's Office). Background: The crumpled Jeep Grand Cherokee that Bjorn Hartzell was driving when he wiped out an Arizona family, killing three children and two parents (KPNX).
An Arizona man is headed to prison for decades after annihilating a family in a car crash when he was 16 years old and high on marijuana, according to prosecutors.
Bjorn Hartzell, now 20, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to five counts of second-degree murder and one count of felony endangerment, according to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office.
Hartzell was driving a Jeep Grand Cherokee near 107th Avenue and Lone Cactus Drive in Peoria when he struck a minivan carrying "a family of two adults and four juveniles who had just left a Thanksgiving get-together" in November 2023, according to the county attorney's press release.
The two adults, Elizabeth Simpson and her new fiance Jace Hochstetler, were pronounced dead at the scene. Simpson's two children, ages 14 and 10, and Hochstetler's 7-year-old daughter all died at a local hospital.
"One died shortly after arriving at the hospital, and two others later died from their injuries," the attorney's office says.
A fourth child, Simpson's 7-month-old son, was the sole survivor.
Investigators found that Hartzell was driving at an "extremely dangerous speed" in the minutes leading up to the crash, according to prosecutors. Collision reconstruction data showed that Hartzell was traveling between 112 and 115 mph in a 40-mph zone at the time of the collision.
"A drug recognition expert who evaluated Hartzell observed multiple signs of cannabis impairment," the attorney's office says. "Hartzell admitted to smoking marijuana, and a court-authorized blood draw confirmed the presence of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in Hartzell's blood."
Simpson and Hochstetler were driving home with their kids from a Thanksgiving holiday party when the crash occurred. They were traveling eastbound and making a left turn when Hartzell slammed into them with his Jeep.
"All were wearing seatbelts and just enjoying a night out," a GoFundMe said.
According to the fundraiser, Hochstetler had proposed to Simpson just weeks before the crash.
"No one expects a routine drive to end in tragedy because another driver chose to speed while impaired," said Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell in a statement last Friday. "Cases like this highlight why reckless and impaired driving remain among the greatest dangers on our roads. Five lives were lost because of one person's decisions behind the wheel. While no sentence can undo that loss, we will continue to seek justice for victims and hold dangerous drivers accountable."