Bond set for mother driving in fiery downtown crash that kills four people

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – The mother who authorities say was drunk and driving at a high rate of speed when her vehicle crashed into another vehicle, killing four, including her own children, was confirmed in court Friday.

Rachel Bickerstaff, 33, had her first day in court after being convicted booked into the Douglas County Jail Thursday.

In addition to the three motor vehicle homicide charges she was booked on, Bickerstaff was also charged with an additional motor vehicle homicide charge and one count of driving under the influence causing serious bodily injury.

Bickerstaff’s bond has been set at $5 million. Her preliminary hearing is scheduled for December 9.

Omaha police said in a news release Thursday that the OPD Fugitive Unit brought 33-year-old Rachel Bickerstaff back to Omaha from Kansas, where she had been treated for burns suffered in the crash that occurred just before 1:30 a.m. on September 27. .

Bickerstaff is charged with motor vehicle homicide. A warrant was issued for her arrest while she was in the hospital.

Her 18-month-old child was also taken to a burn unit in Kansas City for injuries sustained in the crash, but ultimately succumbed days later. Emergency room personnel who treated the child said the injuries “could only be described as ‘terrifying,’” according to court documents filed earlier this month.

The fiery crash also left behind two of her young daughters – one of them a newborn – and the driver of the other vehicle, 70-year-old Michael Sales of Council Bluffs, dead at the scene. Sales was on his way home from his part-time job at FedEx when the crash caused both vehicles to burst into flames.

Court documents filed earlier this month say Bickerstaff was driving about 105-110 mph and had a BAC of 0.216 – almost three times the legal limit – when she crashed into Sales’ Subaru, killing him and her 11-day-old and five-year-old daughters.

Bickerstaff’s passenger, who is also the father of the three girls who died, also survived the crash with injuries.

Court records also show that in early 2020, Bickerstaff had one prior DUI conviction and pleaded no contest to misdemeanor DUI and reckless driving charges, losing her driver’s license for 60 days and requiring a safety interlock. She was on probation for six months and had to pay fines totaling less than $800.

6 News also learned that Bickerstaff has four other children — believed to be between the ages of 8 and 11 — who were placed in state custody several years ago. Based on juvenile court records, Partida is the father of one of them.

Documents show the state had concerns about the safety and well-being of the children, alleging that Bickerstaff missed her drug tests — she had a history of methamphetamine use, the documents say — and did not follow the medical plan when it concerned a son with leukemia. Ultimately, the parents waived their rights in 2019 and the children were put up for adoption.

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Reporter Brian Mastre contributed to this report.

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