Motorcyclist killed in head-on collision on Cottage Grove Avenue

CEDAR RAPIDS — A Linn County woman is charged with vehicular homicide in the death of a motorcyclist Tuesday evening.

Debra Trimble, 60, collided head-on with the motorcyclist, Chad Craig, 48, of Cedar Rapids, while Trimble was attempting to pass another car in a no-passing zone on Cottage Grove Avenue, near Highlands Court SE.

Trimble was driving north in a Pontiac Vibe just after 7 p.m. when she tired to pass the other car while going uphill on a curve.

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A news release from the Linn County Sheriff’s Office states Trimble is from Marion, but a criminal complaint lists her home address in Cedar Rapids.

Craig was pronounced dead at the scene. Trimble has been charged with homicide by vehicle, operating under the influence and unsafe passing.

According to a news release Trimble was not injured in the crash.

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After Trimble was taken to the Linn County Jail, she provided a breath sample that registered a blood alcohol content of 0.109, according to the complaint. The legal limit is .08.

Trimble had her first appearance in court Wednesday and is being held on a $100,000 bond.

The crash remains under investigation by the Linn County Sheriff’s Office.

‘He was a wonderful guy. He will definitely be remembered.’

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Dawn Lienau, Craig’s wife, said the two of them would normally have been at work Tuesday evening — they worked together at Kraft Heinz in Cedar Rapids — but they were taking bereavement leave after the recent death of Lienau’s sister, whose celebration of life took place Wednesday.

“He ran to Menards. He asked me, ‘Do you want to go for a bike ride? We’ve only got a couple more days of nice weather,’ and I said no. I said, ‘You’d do anything to get out of doing dishes,’ and he was like, ‘I’ll do them when I get back,’” Lienau said.

When Craig hadn’t returned home a few hours later, Lienau said she started to wonder where he might be, but figured that he had stopped to help someone on the side of the road.

“He loved his cars, was always working on somebody’s car. He’d do anything to get out of housework,” Lienau said. “So I didn’t think to call him. I thought, he’ll be home soon and he’ll tell me he had to help this person tow their car or fix their car or whatever, because that’s just what he did. So, I didn’t think nothing of it.”

When someone arrived from the Linn County Sheriff’s Office to tell Lienau that Craig had died, she said she blacked out after hearing the news.

“I woke up, and I was like, ‘Just tell him this is not funny. That I already did the dishes. He can come home,’” she said.

Lienau and Craig had a common law marriage. They were never officially married, but they had been together for 23 years.

“We got matching ring tattoos — wedding bands — about 10 years ago in Vegas. We just never actually did it legally,” Lienau said.

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The couple met through a mutual friend while Craig was in Cedar Rapids from Kansas. He was in town doing work for a roofing company he worked for at the time. Lienau said Craig never planned to stay in Cedar Rapids, but stuck around for her.

Craig enjoyed collecting and building cars and motorcycles. The motorcycle he was riding when he was killed was one he had recently acquired and was especially proud of, Lienau said.

“He was always joking and he was always kind. He was like the welcome wagon of the neighbors,” Lienau said. “You loved to hate him sometimes because he’d always be joking around and he never took things seriously, but that’s the way he wanted it.”

Lienau said when law enforcement told her that Trimble had been arrested and charged, she was grateful to know, but she didn’t feel that it changed anything.

“It doesn’t make me happy. I don’t know what she’s got going on in her life,” Lienau said. “It’s not going to bring Chad back.”

Craig didn’t have a will and he didn’t have life insurance. Lienau said they’d talked occasionally about preparing those things as they got older, but the conversation usually ended with them joking together.

“He always promised that he would never go before me. So, he broke that promise,” Lienau said. “He was a wonderful guy. He will definitely be remembered.”

Craig’s death was the 55th motorcycle fatality in Iowa this year, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation, which tracks traffic fatalities.

Those 55 fatalities are an increase over last year, when 49 people died in motorcycle crashes. But it’s less than 2020 and 2021, when 65 and 68 motorcyclists were killed each year, respectively.

Comments: (319) 398-8328; emily.andersen@thegazette.com