Relic developer dies in car crash tragedy

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 6 September, 2010

Pregnant wife in hospital.

One of the chief developers at Relic Entertainment died after a car crash involving an allegedly high 21-year-old.

Lead designer of Company of Heroes Online Brian Wood, 33, died after Jordyn Weichert, 21, tried to take off her sweater as she was speeding along a highway near Seattle, according to a report by the Seattlepi (via Kotaku).

Weichert's Chevy Blazer swerved as front-seat passenger Samantha Bowling, 22, held the steering wheel.

Three people died: Two young men riding in the back seat of the Blazer, Jacob Quistorf, 25, and Francis Malloy, 26, and Wood.

Wood's six months pregnant wife, Erin, 31, is in hospital but "in improving condition".

Police said Weichert was under the influence of drugs at the time of the crash, and could be charged with vehicular homicide and vehicular assault.

Bowling also faces a possible vehicular homicide charge when she is released from hospital.

Wood died at the scene of the crash.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (60) Latest comment 1 year ago

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  • Freek #1 1 year ago

    That's awfull :(

  • Der_tolle_Emil #2 1 year ago

    :(

    All the best to his wife. I hope she and the baby are all right.

  • the_dudefather #3 1 year ago

    'Online Brian Wood, 33, died after Jordyn Weichert, 21, tried to take off her sweater as she was speeding along a highway near Seattle'

    'Weichert's Chevy Blazer swerved as front-seat passenger Samantha Bowling, 22, held the steering wheel.'

    FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

  • brommers #4 1 year ago

    that has quite saddened me. Wish all the best to his wife and baby. What a tragic story.

  • Doctor_What #5 1 year ago

    Best wishes to his wife, family, friends, and colleagues at Relic. What a sad way for a life to end.

  • DUFFMAN5 #6 1 year ago

    :(

  • Apaar #7 1 year ago

    Horrible. :(

  • schnide #8 1 year ago

    All the best wishes in the world to Wood's surviving wife and child x

  • AphoticCosmos #9 1 year ago

    :( What a terrible way to go, and to leave his pregnant wife behind . . .

    Hope the driver gets locked up for life. Frakking junkie.

  • ISmoke #10 1 year ago

    Just because of a bloody sweater.

    All the best to his wife and child I guess, though our thoughts will never be enough.

  • LeeroyJenkins #11 1 year ago

    Tragic news. Very sad :(

  • ZuluHero #12 1 year ago

    The worst thing is that he will never see his child, nor his child will ever know it's father. A guy with everything to live for, cut tragically short by some irresponsible little girl who not only shouldn't have been driving in the first place because she was under an influence, but thought it was a good idea to make matters worse by taking a sweater off while driving.

    I can't possibly imagine what is going through his poor wife's mind and no words of condolence will ever be said to make up for these events . A young family torn apart through someone else's utter selfishness when they should have been experiencing happy family life.

    I am in utter disdain to hear about this and I really hope they throw TEN books at little miss reckless...

  • menage #13 1 year ago

    Shit man, that's pretty brutal.

  • Sunyavadin #14 1 year ago

    Stupid cow.

    Horrible thing to happen.

  • Goodfella #15 1 year ago

    Well said ZuluHero.

    It angers me when these idiots out there ruin other people's lives, they always seem to survive these incidents too. Hopefully she will rot in prison for a long time, but somehow I doubt it.

  • Silvergun-Blue #16 1 year ago

    At least this happened in America so the girls more likely to get punished properly, Here in the UK a person on drink or drugs always seems to be portrayed as some sort of victim who can't help themselves. Makes my blood boil!!

    Here's hoping his wife pulls through and has a healthy, happy child.

  • darkmorgado #17 1 year ago

    Terrible when such a talented person's life is cut short.

    Best wishes to wife and unborn baby; I hope Relic give them plenty of support.

  • Zapatero #18 1 year ago

    Really nice bloke. I interviewed him a while back and bumped into him a couple of times when visiting Relic. It was really hard to get a decent quote out of him as he was so quiet, but a really decent chap.

    Tragic.

  • anomagnus #19 1 year ago

    What a goddamn waste.

    Relic are one of my top developers, up there with Blizzard, Bungie and Bioware as a company that can do no wrong.

    This will probably devasatate their entire company because of some brainless little girl.

  • booner #20 1 year ago

    rip, throw the book at her

  • thedaveeyres #21 1 year ago

    Terrible.

    A shocking waste of a life. :(

  • Zomoniac #22 1 year ago

    I don't really know what to say that hasn't already been said. Tragic. Sincerest condolences to his wife.

  • Dolly #23 1 year ago

    The poor guys wife :(

    What an absolute tragedy. I just can't imagine what it must be like to lose someone in this way. Hopefully some gamers will rally round to raise some funds for the kids upbringing through game marathons/sponsorship. I am sure that there will at least be lots of support for them over the coming years from the company/community, which will hopefully provide some small comfort.

    RIP.

  • Spekingur #24 1 year ago

    This news saddens me :(

    Is it common practice to take off your sweater whilst driving?

  • mkreku #25 1 year ago

    Three people dead and at least as many families shattered because she couldn't stop the car to remove her sweater. Insane.

    Had a friend in my football team that did the same thing: unbuckled his seatbelt to remove his jacket while driving, got caught with both arms behind his back (!), the car ended up with one wheel outside the asphalt on the side of the road, it whipped around, flipped over and threw him out. Police said he was still backtied by his jacket when they found him dead.

  • Retroid #26 1 year ago

    So sad :(

  • Mkwone #27 1 year ago

    As is so often the case the people responsible are the only ones that live.

    was the wife in the car aswell? hope her and the baby are alright.

  • edhe #28 1 year ago

    Driver under influence destroys multiple lives. Not just the 3 that she killed but hers, her surviving friend's, they're significant others, the unborn's. For every death their parents, siblings and friends.

    Good chance that that one idiot has done irreparable damage to dozens folk and will just get stuck in a cell. Scum.

  • Slabbathepave #29 1 year ago

    So i'm the only one who found it funny then...

    Anyone?

    Cool.

  • darkmorgado #30 1 year ago

    So i'm the only one who found it funny then...

    Yes, because it is so utterly hilarious when the stupidity of a junkie leaves 3 people dead and a pregnant widow in hospital.

    My sides are splitting for the hilarity of it all.

  • Iain815 #31 1 year ago

    @Slabbathepave

    Cunt.

  • makeamazing #32 1 year ago

    Very sad indeed :(

  • Lepperman #33 1 year ago

    @ Slabbathepave

    Idiot.

  • BuddyChrist #34 1 year ago

    Subhuman scum.
    Heart goes out to the innocent victims

  • xenoss #35 1 year ago

    Not only did a young father get killed, a baby robbed of a father, a young woman became a widow... it also cost the CoHO project its lead designer.

    Just one irresponsible little bitch is all it took.

    But this sort of thing happens all the time to people we never heard of, everywhere in the world. One must wonder why people are so god damned stupid AND irresponsible. This girl, and others like her, KNOW they shouldn't drive under influence. Yet the choose to, and in doing so put others in danger.

    I hope this haunts the bitch for the rest of her life, in jail.

  • Paulie_P #36 1 year ago

    Condolences to his wife, unborn child, family and friends.

    I hate stories like this, what was going through the driver's head when she decided to take off her sweater while driving under the influence? Its no use calling her an idiot because I know a few idiots and they'd know better than that. Makes me so angry.

    Someone found this funny? - you really have a lot of balls to post that anonymously on the internet. Cunt.

  • Slabbathepave #37 1 year ago

    Anyone else find it funny yet?

    I still do btw.

  • kangarootoo #38 1 year ago

    A horrible story. The sort that leaves you feeling sad, and angry.


    And for the poster that finds this funny, ignore is the solution. He/she is far below any other kind of response.

  • Bluetooth #39 1 year ago

    How cruel that the innocent dies whilst the guilty party is still alive.

  • levitate #40 1 year ago

    Such a tragedy. My thoughts go out to the wife and child at the hospital.

  • levitate #41 1 year ago

    @Slabbathepave:

    Real mature to make fun of this. Fucking Idiot.

  • Vordred #42 1 year ago

    it's just typical, that the two muppets resposible for causing the crash are the ones to live

  • grussbarbar #43 1 year ago

    =(

    My condolences to the affected families. I especially hope his wife makes it, not just now, but in the years to come when she has to raise their child.

    And I hope that gamers around the world will take this with them and drive a little bit more careful themselves. While most of us won't try to take off a sweater while driving under influence, too many stupid accidents do still happen with other, less distracting practices (using mobile phones for instance).

  • Repsode #44 1 year ago

    Never a big fan of the man's games but I thought I'd chip in a word of condolence too. A true waste through utter selfishness. A wife without a husband, a child without a father. Not to mention his parents etc and those of the other passengers. Ugh this just put me in a pretty sour mood.

    @Slabbathepave

    Are you a sociopath, a troll or an idiot? I'm thinking all three right now.

  • wizbob #45 1 year ago

    Just put "Chevy Blazer" into Google image search and you'll see why someone feels confident enough to take risks while driving one and why someone in an ordinary car doesn't stand a chance in a collision.

    When I rented a crappy car in LA and was surrounded by giant 4x4s in traffic, I realised that inevitably I would have to buy one of those giant pieces of crap just to stay safe on the roads at home. Another useless arms race.

  • Slabbathepave #46 1 year ago

    I hoped your responses would make me laugh, and they did. Whether or not i gave a shit was never the point. Nothing i can say or do would ever make a difference. least of all here. The only people you were all trying to convince with your self-serving platitudes was each other. You self satisfied back-patting super twats.

    If you were wondering that is.

  • tossum #47 1 year ago

    By smugly trolling for, then receiving exactly the kind of responses from people that you were hoping for, to gain some kind of laugh also makes you a "self satisfied back-patting super twat".

  • Repsode #48 1 year ago

    @Slabbathepave:

    Sociopath it is then.

  • outerheaven8 #49 1 year ago

    Fucking druggies. They should just fucking kill the driver.

  • hazelam #50 1 year ago

    my thoughts go with wood's wife and unborn child, i hope she and her baby come out of this with their health at least, that dumb junkie has taken enough from them already.

    tell me again how drugs aren't that big a problem, that child will grow up without his or her father because of drugs, or because of the loser taking them.
    i hope they throw the book at that weichert woman.
    some may not like what i'm about to say, or write, but i think it's a shame she survived.

  • Slabbathepave #51 1 year ago

    I have seen the error of my ways.

  • Collymilad #52 1 year ago

    Very sad, best wishes to her and the kid.

    Stupid junkies eh? People who aren't under the influence of drugs never do anything stupid whilst driving like trying to take off their sweaters. That probably had nothing to do with the crash though, was definitely the drugs.

    I'm not advocating drug use, but you people using this as an opportunity to have self-righteous dig should take a hike.
    Edited by 1 at 06/09/10 @ 18:01

  • Beranmee #53 1 year ago

    I hope the junkie gets life!!

    My thoughts go out to the families who have lost someone.

  • vallhall74 #54 1 year ago

    My condolences .....just tragic.....

  • Loghorn #55 1 year ago

    Thumbs up to Zuluhero, xenoss, & many others for their common sense posts. My condolences goes out to the friend's families, & to the woman who's about to give birth to a child in which that he (or she) would never see his/her father in his/her life, due to this craziness.

    What was that girl thinking by even getting behind the wheel while under the influence of drugs, etc? And taking her shirt off during the process of driving? What a idiot.

    @ Slabbathepave: I don't find this funny at all. I hope something like this never happens to you, moron.
    Edited by 3 at 07/09/10 @ 05:07

  • Seehuusen #56 1 year ago

    Rest in peace, you left us too early.

    I hope the driver feels terrible for what she did, too bad her stupidity and selfishness had to kill others.

  • CosmicFuzz #57 1 year ago

    Jesus, what a shame :(

  • xenoss #58 1 year ago

    I'm sure most people who posted are mature people; but even mature people behave immaturely a lot of times. That Slabb guy is not a sociopath, he is just a troll. He is just an attention whore. That is obvious, and yet you fed him exactly what he wanted.

    The problem with this +-, thumbs up/down thing, is that some people just want attention and don't mind (may be even like) negative attention. That guy came back to this thread several times with replies: meaning he came back to check here. For what? For exactly what you people fed him: the big red numbers and the replies directed to him.

    Sometimes, the best thing to do is just to ignore the obvious troll. Or if you must reply, instead of talking sense to someone like that, just laugh at him like the little idiot that he is.

  • gaselite #59 1 year ago

    Condolences to the victims and their families, a very sad story.

    Condolences too to the girl who was driving the car, it must be a terrible weight to bear in the cold light of day. As sad as I am for the three victims and their families I feel a terrible pity for her as well. A horrible situation brought on by an act of childish stupidity, not any malicious intent.

    Almost all homicides are a tragedy for everyone involved, some of the invective directed at this girl in these comments has been weak and shameful.

  • speedjack #60 1 year ago

    Heartbreaking.