Silicon Valley boss snared over 145mph horror crash that killed mom, daughter — as dad seen trying to save them from inferno
A high-flying Silicon Valley exec has been charged with murder for diving his Tesla at more than 140 mph into stopped traffic in a fiery crash that killed a mother and her young daughter.
Zachary Chernicky, 31, was arrested on July 13 and is charged with two counts of murder in for the Dec. 2, 2025, crash in San Jose that killed Ivana Balistreri, 29, and her 1-year-old daughter, Lilliana.
Prosecutors say Chernicky was driving 142 mph 15 seconds before impact and was still speeding at about 102 mph when his Tesla slammed into the Lexus SUV that carried Balistreri and her toddler, as well as the driver, Balistreri’s fiancé and Lilliana’s father, Zack Martins.
The Tesla was speeding at more than 140 mph just second before the wreck. KTVU
Balistreri’s car was stopped in traffic, prosecutors charge. The San Jose mom and her daughter, who was just two weeks shy of her second birthday, burned to death in the fiery wreck that occurred at 10: 45 a.m. in clear weather.
Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Marisa McKeown, who’s prosecuting the case, ripped Chernicky in an interview with The Post.
“If people drive like this the natural outcome is that somebody’s going to die,” McKeown said.
Chernicky is a software exec who says he worked at Apple. Facebook/Zachary Chernicky
Prosecutors say Chernicky was speeding northbound in heavy traffic on Highway 87 when he struck Balistreri’s car so hard that both her car and the car in front of them suffered major fire and crash damage.
A fourth car was also damaged in the crash but was able to drive away.
The causes of Chernicky’s excessive speed remained unclear, McKeown said. He suffered only minor injuries in the crash.
Beloved artist stabbed to death in attack by 19-year-old that’s rocked quiet California beach town
A picturesque California beach town is in shock after a much-loved artist was allegedly stabbed to death by a 19-year-old who was awaiting trial for another felony case.
Rachell Summers, 73, who was remembered by friends and coworkers as a selfless and gentle presence in the community, was stabbed to death Monday outside the Capitola Mall in an attack police have described as completely random.
Tyler Leibelt, 19, of Santa Cruz, was arrested shortly after the killing and charged with murder.
Prosecutors also added a felony enhancement related to his alleged status as someone who was already out on bail or his own recognizance for a previous felony case.
The killing is likely to become another flashpoint with critics who claim criminal justice reforms have made it too difficult to keep potentially dangerous defendants behind bars before they commit another offense.
Supporters of criminal justice reform argue the system must balance accountability with rehabilitation, but opponents say tragedies like Summers’ killing show why public safety must come first.
A growing memorial has been created outside the Capitola Mall honoring Summers, who managed the Art of Santa Cruz gallery inside the shopping center.
The gallery has closed for the remainder of the week following her death
Coworker Marilyn Gwynn struggled to process the loss.
“You cannot, you cannot process that. You know, it’s too hard. It’s too hard,” Gwynn told KSBW.
Summers had reportedly gone to the mall Monday to pick up her paycheck and was walking to the bank when she was attacked.
“The president of our nonprofit calls me and says it was Rachel. Like what? I mean, you just can’t believe it,” Gwynn said. “A 73-year-old woman, that’s who he picked, really? Yeah. I mean, I’m in so much shock. I’m in shock.”
Summers had gone to the mall Monday to pick up her paycheck and was walking to the bank when she was attacked. KSBW
Gwynn said Summers devoted herself to the gallery, the artists and the local community.
“She gave by putting her energy into the store and into the artists and helping us run the store,” Gwynn said. “She didn’t have to do that at 73. She contributed to us, to our organization, and we will miss her.”
The killing also drew an emotional response from local officials.
“This isn’t Capitola,” Mayor Margaux Keiser said. “We will rise above this. We will move forward and not forget this and just be aware. But this is just a total random act and a one-time thing. And we really want to make sure that everybody still feels safe.”
Police have said there is no evidence Summers and Leibelt knew each other before the attack.
The killing also drew an emotional response from local officials. KSBW
Leibelt’s previous legal situation has also drawn attention online.
One Reddit user asked:
“Does anyone know what he was already out on bail for?”
Authorities have not released details about the earlier felony case, but prosecutors cited his release status when adding the enhancement.
Another commenter responding to the Capitola Police Department’s post criticized local priorities: “Santa Cruz needs to stop providing help to the drug addicts in the streets and spending money of hard-working people and families.”
According to authorities, officers responded at approximately 12:47 p.m. Monday after receiving reports of a stabbing near the mall’s food court exit.
They argue California’s bail policies and broader reforms have placed too much emphasis on rehabilitation and reducing incarceration. KSBW
Officers found Summers on Clares Street across from Macy’s on the west side of the mall suffering from multiple stab wounds.
They immediately began lifesaving efforts before being assisted by personnel from the Central Fire District of Santa Cruz County and American Medical Response.
Summers was ultimately pronounced dead at the scene.
After the mall was placed under lockdown for several hours, police located Leibelt just blocks away and arrested him in the area of the 1400 block of 41st Avenue.
Capitola Police Chief Sarah Ryan told the Santa Cruz Sentinel that Leibelt called law enforcement to turn himself in.
Leibelt was booked into the Santa Cruz County Jail Monday and was being held without bail as of Tuesday.
Georgia city’s youngest-ever mayor stripped of duties, access over alleged spending habits
A Georgia city’s youngest-ever mayor was temporarily stripped of his duties and privileges amid an investigation over his alleged spending – less than a year after being elected on a campaign premised around accountability and transparency.
Jayden Williams, the 22-year-old mayor of Stockbridge, Ga., was ordered to hand over his city-issued credit cards by Monday at noon due to his spending, but failed to meet the deadline, Atlanta News First reported.
Stockbridge city council officials launched a probe into Williams after “information” was presented to finance officials and the city attorney, without divulging further.
Jayden Williams, the youngest ever mayor of Stockbridge, Georgia, is being probed over his alleged spending habits. Jayden Williams / Facebook
Lawmakers backed a resolution on a 5-0 basis last Friday to strip the pol of some of his privileges, including suspending his city-issued credit card and blocking the use of city-owned cars.
Keep these in mind as you contemplate the direction of the American government over the past 50 years and especially since the Obama election.
The Goals of Communism
(as read into the congressional record January 10, 1963, from "The Naked Communist" by Cleon Skousen)
1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.
2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.
3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament of the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.
4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.
5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.
6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.
7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.
8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.
9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.
10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.
11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)
12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.
13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.
14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.
15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.
16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.
17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.
18. Gain control of all student newspapers.
19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.
20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.
21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.
22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."
23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."
24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.
25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.
26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."
27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."
28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."
29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.
30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."
31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.
32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.
33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.
34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.
36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.
37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.
38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand.
39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.
40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.
41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.
42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems.
43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.
44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.
45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike.
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