Niagara Falls Crash Victims Identified As NY Couple

Kurt P Villani and Monica Villani, both 53, of Grand Island, New York, were killed when their car crashed into a border checkpoint in Niagara Falls and exploded in a fiery wreck.

The two people killed when their car crashed into a border checkpoint in Niagara Falls and exploded in a fiery wreck were identified on Friday as a western New York husband and wife whose family owns a lumber business and several hardware stores in the Buffalo area.

Kurt and Monica Villani

The Niagara Falls Police Department named the couple as Kurt P Villani and Monica Villani, both 53, of Grand Island, New York, a leafy Buffalo suburb close to the falls. Online business records and the company website indicate the victims' family owns Guis Lumber and seven Ace Hardware locations in western New York, his family operating the business since the mid-1980s.

Statement from the Families

We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to all that extended prayers, condolences, and well wishes, the families and the lumber company said in a joint statement released by the Erie County Sheriffs Office on Friday. At this point, we are requesting privacy so we may begin the process of healing.

Investigation Ongoing

Authorities have not yet released details on what exactly led to the couple's crash on Wednesday at the Rainbow Bridge, where their car raced through an intersection, hit a low median, and was launched through the air before slamming into a row of security booths and bursting into flames.

The wreck prompted widespread concern on both sides of the border, as video and images of what appeared to be the aftermath of an explosion began to circulate online and officials closed the bridge and three other crossings in the area. Authorities investigated for several hours before the FBI's Buffalo office said it found no signs the incident was a terror attack and turned the case over to local police as a traffic investigation.

Condolences from New York Governor

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has described the crash as surreal and said the vehicle was basically incinerated with nothing left but the engine and a scattering of charred debris. You actually had to look at it and say, was this generated by AI? Hochul, a Democrat, said at a news conference Wednesday. Because it was so surreal to see. How high in the air this vehicle went, and then the crash, and the explosion, and the fire.

Safety Measures

The safety measures tied up traffic at a nearby airport in Buffalo and elsewhere on one of the busiest US travel days of the year, ahead of the American Thanksgiving holiday. The bridges were later reopened. About 6,000 vehicles cross the Rainbow Bridge each day, according to the US Federal Highway Administrations National Bridge Inventory. The short, steel bridge offers scenic views of the falls.