By KEVIN NEVERS

A 1999 Chesterton High School graduate died Wednesday of injuries sustained in a two vehicle accident on U.S. Highway 6 in LaPorte County.

The LaPorte County Sheriff’s Police identified the victim as Craig D. Boshart, 23, of 156 Johnson Drive in Valparaiso.

According to the LaPorte County Sheriff’s Police, at 6:04 p.m. Boshart was eastbound on U.S. 6, just east of County Line Road, when he lost control in the extremely heavy rain, began to spin, crossed the center line, and was struck broadside by a second vehicle westbound on U.S. 6.

The driver of the second vehicle was Brandy L. Janik, 18, of Westville. Janik and her passenger, Joseph S. Lombardo, 23, of Tinley Park, Ill., appear not to have been seriously injured in the crash.

Boshart was transported to Porter hospital by LaPorte County EMS and was pronounced dead at 6:54 p.m.

Maj. Gary Broling of the LCSP told the Chesterton Tribune this morning that Porter County Coroner Roger Kleist determined the cause of death to be a broken neck. Kleist’s office was closed today.

A full obituary appears elsewhere in this edition of the Tribune.

Wednesday was a deadly day on Northwest Indiana roadways. Earlier, at 11:18 a.m., Howard W. Belstra, 69, of Demotte, was killed when his dump truck overturned while southbound on Ind. 2 north of C.R. 300S in Porter County. Belstra, who was hauling rocks, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Then, in the second fatal motorcycle crash in less than two weeks in the Town of Chesterton, Matthew R. Guy, 24, of 391W 700N in Portage Township, died of injuries sustained when he disregarded a yield sign at 4:23 p.m. and collided with a car in the intersection of 14th Street and West Indiana Ave.

7/23/2004