Driver sentenced in 2021 DUI crash that killed 3 Idahoans in Nevada

A driver who caused a triple-fatal DUI crash in Nevada’s Nye County has been sentenced to up to 60 years in prison.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that Tyler Kennedy received 8 to 20 years for each of three counts of DUI causing death, with the sentences to run consecutively.

Kennedy’s pickup truck collided with an SUV driven by Idaho resident Michael Durmeier on U.S. 95 near Beatty, Nevada, on March 27, 2021. Durmeier, 39, his fiance, Lauren Starcevich, 38, and his daughter, Georgia Durmeier, 12, all died in the crash. Two other children in the SUV were injured but survived.

Prosecutors said the 34-year-old Kennedy pleaded guilty to the three counts of DUI. The Review-Journal reported that Kennedy admitted to years of addiction to opioids in court records and on police body-camera video.

County sheriff’s deputies had questioned and released Kennedy about an hour before the crash at a rest stop despite finding evidence of drug use in his truck and noticing that he “was probably under the influence,” according to police video.