Memorial placed to honor, remember Girl Scouts and mother

Nov. 3—LAKE HALLIE — Judy Schneider lost her 32-year-old daughter, Sara Jo Schneider, and her 10-year-old granddaughter, Haylee Hickle, four years ago today.

Sara Jo Schneider and Hickle, along with fellow Girl Scouts Jayna Kelley and Autumn Helgeson, were killed when a pickup truck crashed into them as the scouts cleaned up debris on the west side of Highway P at about 11 a.m. Nov. 3, 2018. All four were killed at the scene. A fifth girl was injured but later recovered. The girls attended Southview Elementary and Halmstad Elementary in Chippewa Falls.

Judy Schneider lost more than her daughter and granddaughter that day. Sara Jo and her two children lived with Judy in the town of Lafayette. After their deaths, Haylee's brother, Jasper, moved to Illinois to live with his father, leaving Judy alone.

Judy Schneider said she had never been to the crash scene before Wednesday.

"This is my first time I've physically been on this property," she said softly as she wiped tears away. "I haven't driven down this road."

On Wednesday, a 20-foot-tall memorial was dedicated at the crash site, honoring the three scouts and mother killed that day. More than 100 people gathered for the dedication ceremony, sharing tears and hugs, and placing flowers at the base. The memorial, in the shape of a cross with angel wings behind it, displays the names of the four people who died. Sara Jo and Haylee's names are together.

"It's beautiful," Judy Schneider said as she looked up at the large cross-shaped memorial. "Everyone had a hand in it. It's a great symbol of how we came together. Four years ago, when all this happened, you just didn't fathom you'd be able to have something like this to visit. It's just another way of recognizing they are never forgotten."

Jasper, now age 10, comes back to Chippewa Falls about once a month. When he returns around Thanksgiving, Judy said she'll bring him to the memorial.

"It's still like yesterday," Judy Schneider said of thinking about the crash. "It's still raw. It shakes you back to that day."

A jaw-dropping memorial

Brian Kelley, who lost his daughter Jayna that day, said he started thinking of ideas for the memorial three years ago. His wife, Robin, sketched a drawing, and the finished memorial looks nearly identical to her initial ideas.

Kelley contacted Bill Huber, who operates the Bureau of Correctional Enterprises, a metal fabrication shop located inside the Stanley Correctional Institution.

"Brian had sent me a hand sketch," Huber said. "I had some designers in the shop take it from paper to computer."

The inmates then designed and cut the aluminum memorial.

"Once the production started, it was three to four weeks before it was completed," Huber said. "Everyone in the shop was very proud to be part of this. We wanted to do it big and loud, so the girls and mother could be remembered."

Brian Kelley picked it up last week.

"Our jaws dropped when we saw it the first time," Kelley said. "It was so big. This was never in our wildest dreams, it could be at this scale."

At 20 feet tall and 10 feet wide, the memorial weighs more than 1,000 pounds. Chippewa Valley Excavating dug the hole on Thursday and A+ Decorative Concrete poured the footing on Friday.

The property, located just south of Highway 29, is owned by GFL Environmental.

"They donated a big enough easement so we could have this here forever," Kelley said.

Kelley didn't want to estimate the total cost of the memorial, largely because so many people donated time and materials. He said donations fell into place for the memorial to be placed in time for the anniversary.

With a wide open field behind it, Kelley told the crowd that a gorgeous sunset will light up the angel wings of the memorial.

"We just wanted to thank everyone making this a reality," Kelley told the crowd during the dedication ceremony. "That's what it's about, is remembering our girls. This is where they were happy for the last time. That's what this is for. Hopefully, think of the girls when you drive by here."

Crash horrified community

Colten Treu, 25, and John Stender, 25, had purchased a can of Dust-off keyboard cleaner at the Lake Hallie Walmart on Nov. 3, 2018. On the drive back to the home they shared on the south side of Chippewa Falls, they took turns "huffing" from the cannister. At about 11:20 a.m., Treu — the driver — veered off Highway P and into the group of Girl Scouts cleaning up trash alongside the road.

Treu's vehicle struck and killed four people. Treu drove away from the scene, and he hid the vehicle in a garage. Later that day, both men turned themselves in to authorities. A test from the Wisconsin State Lab of Hygiene didn't detect any chemicals or drugs in Treu's blood sample. However, because Treu didn't stay at the scene, a blood draw couldn't be immediately taken. The blood draw was finally taken after 7 p.m.

Treu pleaded no contest to four counts of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle and one count of hit and run, causing great bodily harm, and was sentenced in March 2020 to serve 54 years in prison. Stender was sentenced in September 2021 to serve three years of prison. However, Stender was released in August, after serving about 11 months of his sentence.

Treu has filed an appeal to have his plea withdrawn. However, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, District III, rejected that request. He is currently incarcerated at Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun.

At the March 2020 sentencing, Chippewa County District Attorney Wade Newell requested a 90-year prison sentence, while Treu's attorneys sought a 22-year sentence along with 63 years of extended supervision.