A South Haven man was killed early Wednesday, Oct. 17, when his car went off a road in Southside Township and hit a tree. Dennis M. Loch, 26, was dead when first responders arrived, the Wright County Sheriff’s Department said. Loch’s 1994 Chevrolet Cavalier was eastbound in the 16000 block of 105th Street NW sometime before 3:44 a.m. when it left the road and the passenger side struck a tree, the sheriff’s department said. Loch was the only occupant. A few days later, two memorials made of roses rested against the base of the scarred tree just off the unpaved road. Some debris from the crash still littered the site. Loch had been arrested Sept. 25 on a felony charge of procuring liquor for a minor resulting in death. The charge was in connection with the July 19, 2006, death of Krysta Mozena, 13, of Kimball in a rollover crash. She died when a car she was riding in flipped on its roof along Wright County Road 35 in French Lake Township. Driver Dylan C. Kaskinen, 19, of Eden Valley was sentenced in March to a year in jail and a $500 fine after pleading guilty to criminal vehicular homicide and two counts of criminal vehicular injury involving two other teenage girls in the car. Kaskinen, who had been drinking alcohol before the crash, told investigators Loch had bought the liquor at the request of him and a 17-year-old who wasn’t charged, according to the criminal complaint against Loch. Prosecutor Elizabeth Larson said she will act to dismiss the case against Loch once his death is confirmed. An obituary appears on page 3.
