Medical examiner identifies young couple killed in Burnsville crash

The victims of a double-fatal crash in Burnsville on April 4 were identified Thursday by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office. 

The crash happened on County Road 42 at Newton Ave. around 10:30 a.m. Sunday. The victims killed in the crash were both 22 years old: Tayler Nicole Garza, of River Falls, Wisconsin, and Dalton Lee Ford, of Prescott, Wisconsin. 

Ford was driving the vehicle when the crash occurred, according to the medical examiner. According to the Department of Public Safety, Ford was making a turn when their SUV was struck on the passenger side "by one of two racing cars in the east-bound lanes of the divided highway." 

Bring Me The News has reached out to Burnsville PD to see if charges are being considered. 

Ford's obituary notes that he and Garza were a couple, describing Garza was the "love of his life."

"Together Dalton and Tayler shared in camping, hiking, traveling and his car club adventures," the obituary says, noting that they "loved trying new restaurants and different foods together." 

Ford and Garza both worked at Vino in the Valley in Rock, Wisconsin, where Ford worked in the kitchen and Garza was a bartender. Vino in the Valley paid tribute to the couple in a Facebook post. It reads: 

"Tragically, Easter Sunday morning at 10:30am, two members of our Vino family, Dalton Ford and his beautiful girlfriend Tayler Garza were in a fatal car crash in Burnsville. Both were 22 years old. Both have been wonderful employees - Dalton in the kitchen and Tayler bartending. Beautiful young people with so much promise ahead. They easily became great friends to our entire Vino Family.

"Dalton was the son of Veronica Ford, who I'm sure many of you know as she's been one of our managers almost since the beginning. To make this an even more difficult time, her dad had also just recently passed away. Last Saturday we all gathered together for a celebration of life for him and 24 hours later this.

"We are all in shock and can't even begin to understand how Jim and Veronica (Dalton's parents) and siblings and Kristen & Brandon (Tayler's parents) and siblings are going through this. Please hold them close to your heart."

Online fundraisers were launched for both. You can find the GoFundMe for Garza's family here, and the GoFundMe for Ford's family here, though Ford's fundraiser is no longer accepting donations. 

A 17-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl were also injured in the crash and transported to Hennepin County Medical Center. The extent of their injuries was not released by Burnsville police, which continues to investigate the crash.