Driver awaits charges in crash that killed 3 from Twin Cities

An accused repeat drunken driver suspected of hitting and killing two prospective University of Minnesota cheerleaders and a Century College student stranded along a Wisconsin interstate has been moved from a hospital to jail and awaits felony charges.

Bradley R. Erickson, 31, of Madison, Wis., was released from the University of Wisconsin Hospital about 8:30 p.m. Thursday, about 18 hours after he allegedly ran into three of five people who were with the disabled car on Interstate 39/90 just north of Madison.

Erickson now sits in the Dane County jail, held without bail on suspicion of three counts of homicide by drunken driving, a jail official said Friday. Investigators with the Wisconsin State Patrol are preparing a case for the Dane County district attorney.

Five years ago, Erickson was convicted of drunken driving in another incident. About 2:10 a.m. on Feb. 14, 2005, he was pulled over in Madison after "swerving in and out" of his lane, according to a police report. A preliminary breath test recorded his blood-alcohol content at 0.22 percent, police said.

Also Friday, the Dane County coroner's office released the names of those were killed: passenger Marcus Johnson, 19, of Milwaukee; driver Elysia Rapp, 20, formerly of Racine, Wis., and passenger Wilfredo Ugarte, 23, of Puerto Rico.

Rapp, a cheerleader in high school, was a first-year student studying interior design at Century College in White Bear Lake, a school official said.

"She did excellent work and was thrilled to be going to school," said interior design instructor Sandy Anderson, one of Rapp's teachers. "She was really passionate about going into interior design. It's just so sad that somebody who had that much energy and a dream to focus on a specific career was not able to do that."

"Regardless of their enrollment status, [Johnson and Ugarte] were very much a part of our spirit squad and our community," Wolter said. "Both had hoped to be on the cheer team and be enrolled students at the university. Their loss is truly painful for all of those who knew them, including the cheerleaders who spent time with them training and working to make the team."

Rapp's car was heading to Milwaukee from the Twin Cities when the crash occurred, said Ryan Maus, another university spokesman.

According to the State Patrol, the 2:39 a.m. crash occurred after the students' 2002 Chrysler Sebring stopped with a flat tire on the median shoulder in the southbound lanes of I-39/90. A southbound 2001 Acura coupe swerved onto the shoulder and struck the Chrysler.

At the time, three of the disabled vehicle's occupants were outside the car while two remained inside. Ugarte and Johnson died at the scene. Rapp, Johnson's girlfriend, who was inside the Chrysler, died at the University of Wisconsin Hospital.