Her daughter was 'fighter' since birth. Years later, Milwaukee man convicted in crash that killed her.

Yahoo

13-03-2025

Things were tense in the delivery room on Aug. 6, 1995, the day Rhode Molina was born.
She wasn't breathing.
When given the news, her mother, Carolyn Hall, did the only thing she knew to do. She prayed.
Minutes went by. To Hall, it felt like hours.
Rhode still hadn't taken her first breath yet. Doctors began scrambling. Suddenly, machines began to beep. Her daughter could be heard crying.
Little Rhode was back from what would be her first brush with death.
"She was a fighter from the time she got here," Hall said. "She willed herself back to life."
Some 24 years later, on June 24, 2020, things turned out much differently. On that night, she didn't have much of a chance.
A Milwaukee County jury on Thursday found Jerry Jay Anderson Jr. guilty of two counts of second-degree reckless homicide and other charges stemming from the head-on crash on Interstate 43 that took Molina's life and the life of another woman.
"It's been an emotional roller coaster," said Hall, 50. "This trial, it made all these feelings come back. I thought they were gone in a sense. But they're not. They'll never be gone."
Anderson, 35, admitted to investigators he intentionally entered the often-busy highway through an onramp and drove head-long into oncoming traffic.
He also told sheriff's deputies he was aware his driver's license was suspended at the time. That meant he had no business behind the wheel of a car that night.
But he did so out of fear, he told the court from the witness stand during his four-day-long trial this week.
He was convinced an unknown motorist who had chased him and his two passengers around the streets of Milwaukee's south side was intent on killing them.
According to a criminal complaint, Anderson told sheriff's detectives that earlier that night, he was in the area of South 11th and Rogers streets when a car he didn't recognize began tailgating him.
He told jurors he tried to take evasive action, but couldn't shake the other car. At some point, Anderson testified, the aggressive driver made contact with his Toyota and spun him around.
Anderson was able to regain control of his vehicle and attempted to drive away. The pursuer kept coming, he said.
Rather than call 911 or go to a police station or other safe place, Anderson said he went up on the freeway in the wrong direction, thinking his pursuer would not dare follow him into on-coming traffic.
But they did.
It was about 11:15 p.m. when Anderson's gold Toyota Camry was spotted on the interstate by Wisconsin Department of Transportation cameras. The vehicle was driving south in the northbound fast lane of I-43.
"He didn't flash his lights or warn anyone," Assistant District Attorney Michael Lonski said. "It was like he was saying, 'Everyone else needs to get out of my way.'"
Lisa Marie Shelander, 53, and another woman were passengers in the car driven by Anderson.
Another car, a blue Chevy Cobalt, was headed north on the freeway at the same time. Inside, were Molina and her boyfriend, who was driving. The Cobalt also was in the fast lane, on a collision course with Anderson.
The two vehicles crashed head-on on I-43 near Chase Avenue. Shelander and Molina, front passengers in their respective vehicles, were killed.
The second passenger in Anderson's car survived, but suffered serious injuries, including the loss of one of her eyes.
Molina's boyfriend also lived through the collision. He and Anderson were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.
"At the time, I was just concerned about getting away," Anderson said under questioning by Lonski. "I had fear in my heart."
More: Milwaukee teen pleads guilty to robbery that touched off I-43 police chase, shooting
The DOT video was played for jurors Tuesday. It showed Anderson was being followed, with that vehicle traveling slightly behind Anderson, but on the opposite shoulder.
After the crash, the driver who had been tailing Anderson is seen in the video making a U-turn, stops in the median distress lane, then walking to the mangled Camry. The mystery driver stayed at the mangled vehicle for more than two minutes.
The person is later seen going back to his car and driving away on northbound I-43 as emergency workers arrive at the scene.
Anderson told the jury he was knocked unconscious by both the crash and the airbags that deployed on impact and claimed to have no memory of what happened after he began driving the wrong way on the freeway.
Anderson posted bail of $30,000 in December 2020, but was a no-show for his trial in February 2021.
A bench warrant was issued, and he was apprehended three years later, in February 2024, on Milwaukee's north side. Anderson has been in custody at the Milwaukee County Jail ever since.
Wrong-way driving is far from rare in the Milwaukee area, the confluence of three major interstates and several high-volume state highways.
Three people died in a wrong-way crash on Feb. 1 when the rented Chevrolet Malibu they were riding in, along with a dark-colored SUV, entered I-43 northbound in a southbound direction at Plankinton Avenue.
The SUV proceeded more slowly than the sedan and turned around, leaving the freeway before National Avenue, according to a Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office report.
The Malibu continued to travel southbound and another vehicle, approaching northbound, swerved to avoid it. That vehicle struck another vehicle, and they came to rest together just north of National, according to the report.
Two motorists were killed in a wrong-way collision in May 2022 in the southbound lanes of the interstate. The victims, a 27-year-old woman and 19-year-old man, each were alone in their vehicles.
More: A 3rd person was killed in deadly wrong-way crash on I-43
Milwaukee and its surrounding suburbs have for years struggled to get the upper hand on reckless driving and speeding.
This year has been no different.
At least 11 people have died in crashes on Milwaukee County roads through March 9 of this year, the most updated figures provided by the transportation department. Last year, 94 road fatalities reported in the county, up from 92 in 2023.
In 2020, the year Shelander and Molina were killed, 101 people were killed in crashes in Milwaukee County.
So far in 2025, Milwaukee police have issued 909 citations for speeding, compared with 4,068 tickets in all of last year, city traffic data shows. A total of 6,518 speeding citations were issued in 2023.
In all, roughly a third of the citations this year were handed out to drivers who were stopped for driving more than 20 mph over the posted speed limit.
This is a developing story. Stay with jsonline.com for updates.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee man found guilty in deadly 2020 wrong-way crash on I-43