'Selfish actions': Drag-racing driver who killed Serra Catholic student in crash pleads guilty to murder

A man who struck a school van and killed a 15-year-old girl inside while he was drag racing at more than 100 mph in Dravosburg pleaded guilty Tuesday to third-degree murder.

William Soliday, 44, of North Huntingdon, was scheduled to go to trial before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Bruce Beemer.

Instead, he pleaded guilty to killing Samantha Kalkbrenner and was sentenced to serve 5½ to 12 years in state prison.

“You stole her from so many people that loved her,” Beemer said before sentencing Soliday.

Beemer received 47 victim-impact statements from people who loved Samantha.

Several of Samantha’s family members spoke before sentencing, including her parents, best friend and boyfriend.

“Samantha was as close to perfect as a child could get,” said her father, Carl Kalkbrenner. “She loved her life and everything in it.

“If you knew her, you loved her. That was the impact she had on this world.”

He called his only child “the best of all of us.”

“In the blink of an eye, that was taken away.”

Around 7:20 a.m. on Sept. 20, 2023, a Wednesday, Soliday was driving his white Volkswagen Jetta to his job at Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory in West Mifflin.

At some point, police said, he came upon a co-worker, Andrew Voigt, 38, of Penn Hills, who was on his way to work in a Jeep Grand Cherokee, and the two began racing.

Other drivers told police the men sped across the Mansfield Bridge. The event data recorder in Soliday’s vehicle — like a black box — showed that he hit a top speed of 107 mph just moments before striking the van taking Samantha to Serra Catholic High School.

Soliday braked 1.5 seconds before impact. He was traveling at 90 mph at the moment of impact.

Three students were thrown from the van. Samantha died at the scene.

Voigt, who was not involved in the crash, fled, police said. He told police he pulled over on the side of the road, “lost control of his bowels,” and vomited on himself.

He then drove home, changed clothes and took a different car to work.

Voigt has not agreed to plead guilty, and his case, which was also set for trial Tuesday, has been postponed.

Graveside visits

During Tuesday’s hearing, Nenita Kalkbrenner, Samantha’s mom, who sobbed as the prosecution played a video depicting the fiery crash that morning, fiercely hugged each of the people who spoke about her daughter as they returned to their seats.

When it was her turn to speak, Nenita Kalkbrenner told the court that she and her husband visit their daughter’s grave every day to say good morning and good night.

“The selfish actions of two men involved in this took everything from us,” she said. “No amount of time or reflection will ever erase the suffering they’ve caused.”

As she neared the end of her statement, Nenita Kalkbrenner, holding up a picture of Samantha, turned toward the defendant.

“Look, Mr. Soliday,” she demanded, as he raised his head. “I want you to see how beautiful my daughter was — what you took from us.”

‘Not a monster’

Soliday, who sat at counsel table wearing a lime green jail uniform and crying throughout the hearing, apologized for his actions.

“I’m deeply sorry for the loss of Samantha. There are no words to ease the pain I’ve caused your family,” Soliday said. “I carry immense sorrow and regret for my actions. I accept responsibility and hope it gives you even a small amount of peace.”

Soliday’s wife, Flanna Soliday, spoke earlier in the hearing on her husband’s behalf.

She began by apologizing to Samantha’s loved ones.

“My husband is human. He is flawed, and he made a mistake,” Flanna Soliday said. “He is not a monster.”

She told the court she will never forget the look on her husband’s face when he woke up in the hospital with no memory of the crash, and she told him Samantha died.

“He’s deeply and genuinely sorry for all of this pain he has caused all of you.”

Difficult sentencing

Prior to imposing the agreed-upon sentence, Beemer spoke about the loss endured not only by Samantha’s loved ones, but everyone else, as well.

“If you think about what that girl accomplished in 15 years, what the world has had taken from it in the years and decades to come.”

He told those gathered in his courtroom, as well as an overflow room that watched the proceedings through a video stream, that he, too, has a 15-year-old daughter.

“As parents, you hope your children find friends like Samantha Kalkbrenner,” Beemer said.

Soliday’s lawyer, Casey White, said it was one of the most difficult sentencing hearings he’s attended.

“I think justice was served for William Soliday, as well as Samantha Kalkbrenner.”

The case against Soliday, had it gone to trial, could have been more complex than originally expected.

Several months after the crash, officials learned that the driver of the school van, Richard Maleski, had cocaine in his system at the time.

No charges have been filed against him, and the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office offered him immunity for his testimony against Soliday and Voigt.

Experts said, however, that Soliday’s defense attorney could have argued that that contributed to the cause of the crash.