A 31-year-old San Jose man was speeding in excess of 140 mph in the moments leading up to a fiery crash late last year that left a mother and her 2-year-old child dead, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office announced Friday.
Zachary Chernicky was arrested on Monday and later charged with two counts of murder in connection with the Dec. 2, 2025, crash on northbound Highway 87 near Curtner Avenue that claimed the lives of 30-year-old Ivana Balistreri and her daughter Lilliana.
The district attorney’s office said Chernicky was driving his Tesla 142 mph 15 seconds before the crash, 126 mph five seconds before impact and 102 mph when he plowed into the back of a stopped Lexus carrying Ivana and Lilliana. Chernicky’s Tesla, the Lexus and another Tesla burst into flames.
Ivana and Lilliana burned to death, according to the district attorney’s office. Chernicky suffered minor injuries.
“The law says that it is murder when someone shoots into a crowd,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement. “When someone is driving 140 mph, then the driver is the shooter and their car is the bullet.”
Chernicky was arraigned on Tuesday and remanded to jail without bail, the district attorney’s office said. His next court date was set for Aug. 25.