Two Louisville men who were facing murder charges over a fatal drag racing crash on Bardstown Road instead pleaded guilty to amended counts of wanton endangerment this week, closing out a case that began with the death of a 77-year-old grandmother in October 2024. Yusnier Pacheco-Bernal and Adam Steele had been scheduled to stand trial on Monday but reached a deal before testimony began.
From Murder Charges to a Last-Minute Plea
Pacheco-Bernal and Steele were originally charged with murder after investigators said the two men were drag racing at speeds over 100 mph in October 2024 when Pacheco-Bernal slammed into an SUV, according to WLKY. Instead of going to trial, both men pleaded guilty to amended charges of wanton endangerment this week. Under the deal, Steele was sentenced to five years, with that sentence diverted with supervision, while Pacheco-Bernal agreed to serve five years in prison and is set to be sentenced in January.
The crash that started it all happened on Bardstown Road in Louisville. Police said at the time that a data recorder inside the Mustang indicated it was traveling 119 mph when it struck a RAV4, and that officers received calls about the crash around 1:10 p.m. in the area of Bardstown Road and Bardstown Falls Road, per the station's earlier report.
A Grandmother Lost, A Husband Hurt
Myrtle Lorraine Wacker, 77, died in the crash, and her husband, who was driving the SUV, was taken to the hospital with serious injuries, according to The Courier-Journal. The crash forced the closure of Bardstown Road as investigators worked the scene.
Wacker's daughter, Karen Cox, said her mother would have wanted the family to forgive the men responsible, pointing to her mother's faith and character. “Mom would want us to forgive because that's who she was,” Cox said, per the same WLKY account.
A Pattern on Louisville's Roads
The case is one of several deadly crashes to work through Louisville courts in recent months. Earlier this year, Rosemary Cundiff, 37, was convicted of second-degree manslaughter and first-degree wanton endangerment in a separate Louisville crash that killed a man, according to WHAS11. That case ended with a 10-year prison sentence.
For now, the Bardstown Road case is largely resolved, with Steele's diverted sentence already in place and Pacheco-Bernal's prison term awaiting formal sentencing in January. The exact terms of Steele's supervision and the precise sentencing date for Pacheco-Bernal have not been detailed publicly.
