Elkhart County, Indiana (September 5, 2026) – The Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office responded to a crash at State Road 13 and County Road 148, south of Millersburg, at 9:10 p.m. on Saturday that killed two people from Ligonier.
According to the sheriff’s office accident report, 58-year-old Maria Rodriguez of Ligonier was driving a 2014 Nissan Rogue south on State Road 13 when she rear-ended a motorcycle driven by 64-year-old Lowell Penner, also of Ligonier. Penner was slowed in traffic and preparing to turn west onto County Road 148.
The collision threw Penner’s motorcycle off the western edge of the roadway and into a field. Rodriguez’s vehicle continued south before it also left the roadway and entered a field.
Penner and his passenger, 58-year-old Leah Lichtenberger of Ligonier, were both pronounced dead at the scene.
Rodriguez was taken to Goshen Hospital for a blood draw as part of the investigation. She was not injured in the crash.
This is a developing story. Details may change as the investigation continues.
Two lives lost in seconds on a rural highway leave a small community, and two families, trying to make sense of what happened next.
Fatal Motorcycle Accidents in Indiana
A motorcycle offers almost no protection when a vehicle strikes it from behind, and Indiana law recognizes how quickly that kind of collision can turn fatal.
- Liability in a rear-end crash generally falls on the trailing driver, who is expected to keep enough distance to stop or slow safely no matter what’s ahead
- A passenger riding on a motorcycle, like Lichtenberger, may have a separate Indiana wrongful death claim from the driver’s estate
- Investigators typically examine dashcam and nearby surveillance footage, the vehicles’ data recorders where available, and the blood draw results once they’re finalized
- Indiana follows a modified comparative fault rule, so any shared fault reduces, but does not automatically bar, a family’s recovery unless it exceeds 50 percent
Under Indiana Code 34-23-1-1, wrongful death claims generally must be filed within two years of the date of death, putting the deadline for both families at September 5, 2028. Because two people died in the same crash, each family’s claim proceeds separately, and each estate will need its own personal representative to bring it.
Anyone who witnessed the crash, or who was driving on State Road 13 near County Road 148 Saturday night, may hold information investigators have not yet gathered. Preserving photographs of the scene, the damaged motorcycle and vehicle before repairs begin, and any nearby home or business camera footage matters most in these first days. A rear-end collision at highway speed after dark also raises questions about following distance and headlight visibility, which a reconstruction expert can help answer.
Contact Our Indiana Motorcycle Accident Attorneys
No amount of legal guidance changes what these two families lost this weekend, and that loss deserves to be acknowledged before anything else.
Our Indiana motorcycle accident attorneys have represented riders and passengers in rear-end collision cases across the state, working to hold negligent drivers accountable when a moment of inattention costs a life. Insurance adjusters sometimes assume a motorcyclist shares blame simply because a motorcycle was involved, even in a straightforward rear-end crash where the trailing driver had the clear duty to stop, and that assumption is worth challenging with the accident report and the physical evidence from the scene.
The blood draw results, the responding deputies’ measurements, and the accident report itself can all take weeks to finalize, and the two-year filing deadline does not wait for that paperwork to catch up.
We take these cases on contingency, so there’s no fee unless we win and no cost to find out where these families stand.
Why Indiana families trust Langer & Langer:
- Founded 1980, over 45 years serving Indiana families
- 100+ years of combined legal experience
- Recognized by Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers, Indiana Trial Lawyers Association, American College of Trial Lawyers
Get Answers About Your Case at (219) 245-5881
Call today, and one of our attorneys will walk both families through what the investigation could mean for a claim.
