Cedar Rapids man charged for vehicle collision that left two dead in rural Linn County

After a three-month investigation, a Cedar Rapids man has been charged in connection with an accident that killed two sisters.

Keith Furne, 35, was charged Friday with two counts of homicide by vehicle and one count of reckless driving resulting in serious injury, according to a news release from the Linn County Sheriff's Office.

Furne was driving a Chevy Silverado on County Home Road at 3:44 p.m. Nov. 3 when the pickup rear-ended a Chevy Aveo that was stopped on the road waiting to turn left onto North Troy Road.

The crash pushed the compact car into another pickup that also was waiting to turn left, according to the sheriff's office.

The crash killed Selena Apodaca, 16, a junior at Linn-Mar High School in Marion, and her sister, Isabella Severson, 13, a seventh-grader at Excelsior Middle School in Marion.

The car's driver, Jennifer Perez, 37, of Belle Plaine, was seriously injured, as were her other daughters, Elysia Severson, 14, and a 4-year-old who was not identified.

Neither Furne nor the other pickup driver were injured.

At the time, Linn County Sheriff Brian Gardner said there were no skid marks or signs that Furne had braked.

The sheriff said he thinks Furne was distracted at the time of the crash.

Furne was in the Linn County Jail on Friday night on a $100,000 cash bond.

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