Investigators have determined what caused the fiery crash that killed two Cleveland Metropolitan School District educators and injured two of their children last week in North Carolina.
Family members confirm to 3News that Donald Nunney, 55, suffered a heart attack while driving on the combined stretch of Interstate 40 and I-85 near Statesville on Aug. 15. Nunney’s 50-year-old wife Maria was in the passenger seat of the Honda Odyssey, while two of their four children — ages 14 and 9 — were in the back seats.
North Carolina state troopers said the minivan went off the road and caught fire in the woods near the highway, hitting several trees before striking a large tree and coming to a stop. The crash left both Donald and Maria dead, while their son and daughter were both badly hurt but are expected to recover.
CMSD later verified that both parents were employees at the district — Donald as a language arts teacher at Joseph M. Gallagher School and Maria as a counselor at Wilbur Wright PreK-8 School. The family had been in North Carolina to drop older son, Noah, off at college in Chapel Hill.
On Friday, Noah spoke to People Magazine and said his father had a heart attack while behind the wheel. The local coroner also confirms this, the family tells 3News.
“They didn’t even have to perform an autopsy because all signs led to a heart attack with my father,” Noah told People. “He was driving, had a heart attack and they swerved off the road.”
Funeral arrangements for Donald and Maria have not yet been announced, but a GoFundMe has been set up to assist their children, and as of Friday has raised more than $300,000. CMSD has also made grief counselors available to students and staff members.
“They both were well know in Cleveland, in their own community and moreover, well respected and will be missed,” Gallagher Principal Lennox Thompson said in a statement last weekend. “Losing someone is never easy, so let’s lean on each other in support.”
