A Fond du Lac County man has pleaded guilty to killing a couple from Eden in a drunk driving crash. 25-year-old Daniel Shea of Campbellsport agreed to a plea deal Tuesday in which he was convicted on two counts of drunken homicide. A third count of causing injury by OWI was dropped in a plea deal.
Shea is scheduled to be sentenced January second and prosecutors plan to seek a prison term of up to 10 years.
Authorities said Shea had seven drinks and two shots of whiskey at five taverns, in the hours before his car crossed a center line on Highway 45 and hit an oncoming vehicle. He told officers he might have been texting at the time, he never saw a vehicle coming, and all he heard was a loud crash.
73-year-old Paul Grahl and his 59-year-old wife Joanna, both of Eden, were killed. Their teenage daughter Esther was seriously hurt. Officials said Shea’s blood alcohol level was almost at 0.22 over two hours after the crash, almost three times the legal limit.