{"id":403253,"date":"2026-07-18T06:36:46","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T06:36:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/403253\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T06:36:46","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T06:36:46","slug":"zachary-chernicky-of-san-jose-charged-with-murder-for-allegedly-driving-140-mph-in-crash-that-killed-ivana-liliana-balistreri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/403253\/","title":{"rendered":"Zachary Chernicky of San Jose charged with murder for allegedly driving 140 mph in crash that killed Ivana, Liliana Balistreri"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \">SAN JOSE, Calif. &#8212; A 31-year-old man has been charged with murder for allegedly speeding at more than 140 mph and then crashing into a car on a highway in San Jose in December, killing a woman and her 2-year-old child, prosecutors announced Friday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Zachary Chernicky, a San Jose resident, has been charged in connection with the crash on Dec. 2 on State Route 87. A 30-year-old woman and her 2-year-old child were burned to death in the crash on the northbound side of the highway near Curtner Avenue, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney&#8217;s Office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">RELATED: <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/abc7news.com\/post\/san-jose-family-shares-loss-mother-ivana-balistreri-baby-killed-highway-87-car-crash\/18252691\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">San Jose family shares loss of mother, baby killed in highway 4-car crash: &#8216;Life was ripped away&#8217;<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Investigators determined that Chernicky was driving a Tesla 142 mph 15 seconds before the crash and 102 mph when he hit the back of a Lexus carrying the woman and child, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">A <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/a-loving-tribute-to-ivana-and-lilliana\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">GoFundMe<\/a> account created by the family of the victims identified them as Ivana Balistreri and her daughter Lilliana. The account had raised more than $107,000 as of Friday for funeral and legal expenses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">RELATED: <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/abc7news.com\/post\/least-1-killed-fiery-3-vehicle-crash-san-jose-nb-hwy-87-shut-down-chp\/18241137\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2 killed, including child, in fiery San Jose 4-vehicle crash on Hwy 87: CHP<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The California Highway Patrol investigated the crash for months and determined Chernicky to be at fault. He was arrested on Monday and was arraigned the following day on two counts of murder, according to the District Attorney&#8217;s Office. He faces significant prison time if convicted and is set to return to court on Aug. 25.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;The law says that it is murder when someone shoots into a crowd. When someone is driving 140 mph, then the driver is the shooter and their car is the bullet,&#8221; District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA hsDdd DbOXS oklLN GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/abc7news.com\/abc-news-live-local-watch\/11513295\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Now Streaming 24\/7 Click Here\" class=\"hsDdd NDJZt sJeUN IJwXl vBqtr KrDt itslR WAUrb hakZw HlUVI \" data-testid=\"prism-image\" draggable=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/11518842_247-NOWSTREAMING_1280x720.png\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Copyright  2026 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, re-transmission or reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. Is prohibited.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE, Calif. &#8212; A 31-year-old man has been charged with murder for allegedly speeding at more than&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[161753,88,90,89],"class_list":["post-403253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-161753","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}