Warning: This article contains details that may be disturbing and triggering to readers. An Ont. man has admitted to driving 173 kilometres per hour prior to crashing into another car and killing a woman and her two dogs in Clearview Township nearly three years ago. Dan Richie, 36, has pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the deaths of Katie Marshall, 31, and her two dogs, following a horrific crash at the intersection of Concession 9 and 3/4 Sideroad Sunnidale Sept. 23, 2023, just prior to 8 a.m. Richie also pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing bodily harm to Marshall’s husband, Brody, who was airlifted to hospital in Toronto with life-threatening injuries. The court heard, through an Agreed Statement of Facts read by the Crown, that Richie, which behind the wheel of a Nissan Pathfinder with his partner and their five children, barreled through a stop sign and crashed into a Ford Focus sedan driven by Brody Marshall. The Marshalls were on their way to feed their horses at Katie’s patents’ farm in New Lowell when the crash happened. Richie, the court heard, had been driving more than double the post speed limit five seconds prior to the crash. Richie’s sentencing hearing was scheduled to take place next week, but those plans changed when Richie, through his lawyer Franklin Lyons, requested a Gladue Report with Richie claiming Indigenous heritage. The report, which often takes six to eight weeks to completed delays sentencing by at least two months to allow for the report on Richie’s family background to be presented to the court. Lyons also asked the court to consider holding sentencing proceedings in an Indigenous healing circle. When the judge left the courtroom, Marshall’s loved ones yelled at Richie to take accountability for his actions, calling him a coward. Since being charged several months after the deadly 2023 crash, Richie, who has had about six different lawyers appear on his behalf in dozens of court appearances, was set to stand trial before a jury for three weeks in October. Richie had been charged twice with failing to comply with conditions of his release. He was acquitted earlier this year of failing to inform police of an address change. Investigators said at the time, Richie may have intended to flee. While out on bail, Richie was arrested again last summer and pleaded guilty in a Chatham, Ont. courtroom with failing to comply with his second release from custody. He was to be with his mother at all times, under house arrest conditions on a pledge of $75,000. Richie had been mistakenly released from jail in Chatham without his GPS ankle monitor and was taken back into custody in September 2025, where he has been since a failed bail review. Richie now has six children with his partner. His daughter suffered damage to her brain in the deadly crash. Richie is scheduled to return to court in two weeks to set a date for his sentencing hearing.
