The Sales family of Council Bluffs, Iowa, is grieving the devastating loss of 70-year-old Michael Sales, who was killed in a horrific crash involving a drunk driver—an event that chillingly mirrors a heartbreaking chapter in their family’s past.
According to NBC affiliate WOWT, Sales was on his way home from work in September 2024 when his vehicle was rear-ended by a speeding car driven by Rachel Bickerstaff. Authorities say Bickerstaff was intoxicated and traveling at an astonishing 139 miles per hour just seconds before the crash.
The collision was so severe that Sales’ vehicle burst into flames. Tragically, Bickerstaff’s own three children—ages 5 years, 18 months, and a newborn—were also killed in the crash, reports ABC affiliate KETV.
In a powerful victim impact statement during court proceedings, Michael’s daughter Laura Sales recounted how the tragedy had eerily repeated itself in their family.
“His own mother—my grandmother—was killed by a drunk driver when he was just two years old,” Laura told the court. “He grew up an only child on a farm outside Crescent, Iowa.”
She painted a portrait of a devoted father who never let pain or hardship diminish the love he gave his family.
“He read to me every night when I was a little girl. He held my hand when I was scared and played with me until I fell asleep,” she said through tears. “He never missed a game, a recital, or a single moment that mattered.”
Justice was served on Wednesday, June 18, when Bickerstaff was sentenced to a staggering 140 to 180 years in prison, with parole eligibility only after 70 years. In addition, her driver’s license was revoked for 15 years.
The case has reignited conversations around drunk driving laws in Iowa and across the country, as families like the Saleses are left to piece together lives shattered by senseless decisions.
“It feels like a cruel cycle,” said a family friend. “For one family to lose two generations to drunk drivers—no words can make sense of that.”