By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
A motion to suppress information from a woman’s cell phone was denied in a case involving the death of a prominent Elkhorn woman.
Brianna C. Laas, of Silver Lake, was originally scheduled to go on trial for the death of Barbara Fischer this month on a homicide by negligent use of a vehicle charge.
However, at the pre-trial conference Jan. 8, Walworth County Circuit Court Judge Daniel Johnson heard arguments on the cell phone issue.
According to the criminal complaint, witnesses to the crash stated Laas was driving eastbound on Highway 12 at about 85 miles per hour when she lost control of her vehicle on Dec. 21, 2022, striking the driver’s side of Fischer’s vehicle with her passenger side.
As a result, Fischer’s vehicle rolled into the wood line, landing on its driver’s side.
Fischer was pronounced dead on the scene from a broken neck suffered in the crash, the report stated.
Laas told the officer on the scene that she was traveling about 75 mph and was “zoning out and not paying attention,” when she left the roadway and overcorrected, crossing the right lane, hitting Fischer. She then stated she called her mother about the crash, after her vehicle came to a rest in the roadway.
Laas’ phone was sitting in a cupholder of the center console. She denied using her phone before she crashed. She said she plays music through her phone but was not manipulating any of its features at the time of the crash.
Police confiscated her phone for analysis, which revealed that at the time leading up to the crash, Laas was searching “Starbucks Coffee Company,” its cold drinks and “strawberry acai lemonade, Starbucks Refreshers Beverages.”
The safe driver app located on the phone reported the crash at 10:11 a.m. At 10:12 a.m., Laas made the phone call to her mother, Christine.
Laas was 17 at the time of the crash. Fischer, a long-time clerk and treasurer for the Town of LaFayette and a member of the Elkhorn Area School board, was returning home from running Christmas-related errands the day of the crash.
Both Christine and Brianna Laas have also been named in a civil suit brought forth by members of Fischer’s family.
The suit, which was filed in August of 2024, names Brianna, Christine and Phillip Laas, as well as American Family Mutual Insurance Company.
That case is due back in court Feb. 10 at 1:30 p.m. for a scheduling conference under Judge David Reddy.
