Fatal crash ‘blew up’ her life, but trial reset five times

CEDAR RAPIDS — Nikki Kindred Halvorson said she was half asleep and didn’t get a typical goodbye from her husband, Erik, an electrical apprentice who left about 5:30 a.m. that day to take on some overtime work in Amana.

She wasn’t happy he was working that Saturday — March 7, 2020 — because she wanted him to work with her on one of the many renovation projects on their 120-year old Cedar Rapids home.

“After he left, I went back to bed with the cat but remember waking up and looking at the clock at 5:55 a.m. — which is about the time he died,” Halvorson, 33, said.

Law enforcement knocked on her door that morning to say her husband — “my best friend and other half” — had been killed in a head-on collision in Walford.

“I don’t know if I believe in this stuff, but I had been was having nightmares about him about a month or so before this,” Halvorson told The Gazette. “No reason for the bad dreams. Nothing was going on. I was paranoid about him driving back and forth to Iowa City to work at (the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics) in the winter, but it was March and roads were OK that day.”

Linn County sheriff’s deputies responded to the crash about 5:54 a.m. at the intersection of Highway 151 and Commercial Drive in Walford, according to a criminal complaint. A Chevrolet Tahoe, driven by Edwin Arenivas, 22, of Marengo, crossed the centerline and struck John Erik Halvorson’s vehicle head-on, the complaint shows.

John Halvorson, 32, who went by his middle name Erik, died at the scene. Arenivas was airlifted to the UI Hospitals for life threatening injuries.

Arenivas was charged in May 2020, after being released from hospital in April, with homicide by vehicle while under the influence that resulted in death. Deputies obtained a search warrant for a blood specimen taken from Arenivas shortly after he was admitted to the hospital, according to the complaint. The specimen, analyzed at the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation crime lab, showed Arenivas had a blood alcohol content of .173 percent. The legal driving limit in Iowa is .08 percent.

If convicted, Arenivas faces up to 25 years in prison.

Arenivas’ trial was rescheduled again last week — marking the fifth time since last year, which didn’t surprise Halvorson, a speech therapist at Witwer Children’s Therapy at UnityPoint Health. The multiple delays have been frustrating, she said, and she doesn’t know whether to trust that the trial will finally go on Dec. 14 as now scheduled.

She understands most of the continuances are due to the pandemic. But that doesn’t make it any easier.

“I’m not expecting to feel justice,” Halvorson said. “I want him (Arenivas) to be held accountable. The crash blew up my life. I want him to take responsibility for what he did. Nothing will bring Erik back.”

She said didn’t have enough time with her husband, even if this year would have been their 20th anniversary of them knowing each other. They had been married only four years.

She and Erik grew up in Cedar Rapids, met at Harding Middle School and became best friends while attending Kennedy High School. She finally consented to dating him when she was in graduate school.

“He wanted to date but I was afraid of dating him because we had different ideologies about life and I worried that if something happened and we broke up, then I would also lose my best friend.”

She eventually relented, and they married in 2015.

“He got better with age,” Halvorson said. “He was very intelligent, loved to read, but would get bored in school. I was a ‘goody two shoes’ and Erik would maybe show up for class, but I got him to take on harder projects.”

He started out interested in being an emergency medical technician but he hated school. She suggested he go to a trade school. He loved to cook and made her and others “amazing” dishes, but eventually started an electrical apprenticeship with the local electricians’ union. He was in his fifth and final year of the apprenticeship before he died.

She said outside of work, they both spent time renovating their house and were board members for Save CR Heritage, which works to preserve historical commercial and residential buildings.

Halvorson said her loss has been more difficult during the pandemic, but at the same time she needed some time to be alone and grieve.

“So much ended in March and my entire world changed for me, and I think people have understood what I’m going through because they are in their own grieving experiences (during the pandemic). I’ve tried to be patient, but 2020 was the year from hell,” she said.

Halvorson said she has been fortunate to have a supportive family and friends and also to have Erik’s family, who has “loved her like a daughter.”

“He just felt like home,” Halvorson, tearing up, said. “I will miss him every day until I die. His favorite place was with me. We were shadows of one another.”

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