Associated Press Published 10:14 AM EST Nov 5, 2018 Lake Hallie, Wis. – A young driver was inhaling chemical vapors, or huffing, just prior to striking and killing three Girl Scouts and a mother and critically injuring a fourth girl who had been picking up trash along a rural Wisconsin highway, police said Monday. Colten Treu, 21, sped off after the collision in Lake Hallie Saturday morning, but later surrendered. Treu was being held in the Chippewa County Jail on 13 possible charges, including four counts of intoxicated use of a motor vehicle, Chippewa County Sheriff’s Sgt. Robert Jensen said. He is expected to appear for a bond hearing at 10 a.m. Monday, Jensen said. Lake Hallie police said Monday Treu and a passenger in the pickup both told investigators they had intentionally been inhaling chemical vapors just prior to the crash. Lake Hallie police said Monday that the deceased were: 9-year-old Jayna Kelley and 10-year-old Autum Helgeson, both of Lake Hallie, and 10-year-old Haylee Hickle and her 32-year-old mother, Sara Jo Schneider, from the Town of Lafayette. The surviving girl was hospitalized in Rochester in critical condition. The children were all fourth graders at Halmstad Elementary School and Southview Elementary School in nearby Chippewa Falls, about 90 miles east of Minneapolis. Two small groups of Girl Scouts and their adult chaperones wore bright green safety vests Saturday as they walked along both sides of County Highway P, which they had adopted as a community service project. Lake Hallie police… [Read full story]
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