Former Minnesota Reporter, St. Paul Woman Killed In WI Crash

BURNETT COUNTY, WI — Two 22-year-old women are dead after authorities say their car collided with a semi truck on Dec. 28 in Wisconsin. One of the women was a news reporter and former University of Minnesota Student.

According to the Burnett County Sheriff's office, at just after 3 p.m. on Dec. 28, authorities received a call of a crash between a car and a semi truck on Highway 70 at Williams Road. Authorities said the two women in the car were pronounced dead at the scene.

Sheriff's investigators found that the driver of a 2004 Gold Honda Accord was traveling west on Highway 70 and the semi was traveling east on Highway 70.

Sheriff's officials say it appeared that the driver of the Honda lost control and traveled into the path of the oncoming semi and was struck by the semi.

Authorities say the driver of the Honda, Micaela Schneider, 22 years old, of Plover, Wisconsin, was pronounced deceased at the scene along with the passenger, Olivia Johnson, 22 years old, of St. Paul.

There were no significant injuries to the driver and passenger of the semi.

A Channel 3000 report found that Johnson was a former University of Minnesota student and a news reporter for the News & Advance in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Previously, she was a reporter for the Minnesota Daily and an intern at the StarTribune and the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

The Grantsburg Fire Department, North Ambulance, Burnett County Highway Department, Burnett County Medical Examiner, Wisconsin State Patrol, along with the Burnett County Sheriff’s Office all responded to the scene.