Parents of 6 killed in crash with wrong-way driver, police say

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (WDIV) - A suspected wrong-way driver in Michigan is facing murder and other charges after police say he crashed head-on into a couple, killing them.

Noriko Ernst plays the piano every Sunday for mass at Our Lady Sorrow Catholic Church in Farmington. That's where she would see 43-year-old Jen and 45-year-old Ryan Ambrosio and their six children, ages 2 to 9.

Ernst says she'll never forget the moment she learned of the parents' deaths. They were involved in a head-on collision with a wrong-way driver Saturday on the Lodge Freeway while returning from a date night.

"It was so sad, the saddest news I've ever heard," Ernst said. "I was so shocked I couldn't think.

I was actually trying to just compose myself because I had to play for mass. And after the mass, I was kind of stuck thinking, 'Oh my goodness, I'm not gonna see them anymore.'"

The suspected wrong-way driver, identified as 35-year-old Angel Melendez-Ortiz, is believed to have been trying to get away from law enforcement at the time of the crash. Police say he turned off his lights and drove in the wrong direction of travel around 1:30 a.m. in an allegedly stolen pickup truck.

"Jen and Ryan were such gentle, unassuming, patient, just goodness - everything," Ernst said. "They were a wonderful model for the entire church family."

Melendez-Ortiz and his passenger, a 29-year-old woman, were injured and hospitalized after the crash.

They are both expected to survive.

Melendez-Ortiz faces two counts [1] of second-degree murder, reckless driving and other charges, all felonies, and was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday, according to the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office.

If convicted, he could face a sentence of life in prison.

References

^ faces two counts (www.clickondetroit.com)