DOVER, N.H. — A man charged with drunk driving is being held on $250,000 bail after police said he crashed into a car driven by a Minnesota couple on their honeymoon in New England, killing the bride and seriously injuring the groom.
Killed Saturday on Route 4 in Rollinsford, N.H., was 30-year-old Leah Fonda of St. Paul. Her husband, 30-year-old Brian Preiss of St. Paul, was hospitalized in fair condition Monday at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Police said the driver, 43-year-old Matthew Tsopas of Somersworth, fled and was found in Dover, where he was hospitalized. Foster's Daily Democrat reports (http://bit.ly/19dRuUD) he was arraigned at the hospital on charges of negligent homicide, felony driving under the influence of alcohol and felony conduct after an accident. It wasn't known if he had a lawyer.
Preiss's uncle, Chuck Czech of St. Joseph, Minn., said the couple worked at the theme park at the Mall of America. They were friends for a long time and recently became engaged. They got married on July 12 in Bloomington, a few blocks from the mall, and took off for their road trip shortly after that.
"Brian, he's kind of famous for road trips," Czech said Monday. "As a child he would study maps of the United States, and when he got his license, he and his brother would just hop in the car and go to these places. And so Leah became part of that, and so that's how they fashioned their honeymoon."
The couple had planned to go to Boston and then on to Niagara Falls, Czech said.
