Minnetonka H.S. Graduate Dies In Car Crash

Four women died in a crash Monday on their way back to North Dakota State University in the fog and snow.

Among the women who died was Danielle Rae Renninger, 18, a 2011 graduate of Minnetonka High School who was riding in the car headed back to Fargo after coming home for the Presidents' Day weekend, her mother Michelle Renninger, of Excelsior, told the Star Tribune.

The accident occurred just after 3 p.m., when control of the vehicle was lost and it crossed a median on I-94 west of Alexandria. The vehicle was then broadsided by a Ford Expedition traveling east, according to the Minnesota State Patrol.

The vehicle that struck the car carrying the women was then hit from behind by another eastbound car. Joann Bieker, 71 of Hopkins, was a passenger in this vehicle. She suffered non-life threatening injuries.

The three others who died in the crash were identified Lauren Peterson, 18 of Prior Lake; Jordan Playle, 19 of Elk River; and Megan Sample, 18 of Rogers. Peterson was driving the vehicle at the time of the crash.

All four of the women were wearing their seat belts and none of them were drinking.

Students at Minnetonka High School are planning to wear pink tomorrow in honor of Renninger. Friends and former classmates are reacting to the accident on a Facebook page set up in her honor (http://www.facebook.com/events/243905409031478/).