New Jersey driver pleads guilty to 100 mph crash that killed a new mother
💔 A high-speed, drug-impaired wreck on the Black Horse Pike claimed the life of 29-year-old social worker Karina Castillo.
🚓 Camden County man Stephen Sirch pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter and assault by auto.
💔 More than $29K was raised to support Castillo’s fiancé and infant daughter as sentencing looms.
MAYS LANDING — A 32-year-old Camden County man has admitted to a high-speed three-vehicle crash that killed a new mother in Atlantic County.
Stephen Sirch on Tuesday pleaded guilty to first-degree aggravated manslaughter and three counts of third-degree assault by auto for the 2024 wreck that killed 29-year-old Karina Castillo.
Investigators say driver was speeding and high on fentanyl
On April 3, 2024, at 2:15 p.m., Sirch, of Voorhees Township, was driving in a 2014 Chevrolet Equinox on the Black Horse Pike in Hamilton Township.
Investigators found that Sirch was speeding about 100 miles per hour and under the influence of multiple substances, including fentanyl, when his SUV struck a 2011 Honda Civic driven by Castillo.
He was indicted on the upgraded, additional charges in June 2024.
The Civic then struck a third vehicle.
Castillo died at the scene, while three people in the third vehicle suffered serious injuries.
Read More: NJ driver charged after crash killed new mom, state social worker
Victim remembered as NJ social worker devoted to helping others
Castillo was a resident of Clementon, who had recently moved to Pine Hill, according to her online obituary.
A GoFundMe campaign raised more than $29,000 for her surviving fiancé and their baby daughter.
She was a social worker for the state Department of Children and Families and has been mourned as having a passion for helping others, according to her obituary, which also said she was a recent resident of Pine Hill.
Sirch would receive an aggregate term of 15 years in state prison, when sentenced in Atlantic County Superior Court on March 30.
He would be required to serve more than 12 years before becoming eligible for parole.
