NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — A police investigation into the crash and explosion that killed two people in a high-powered luxury car at a Niagara Falls border crossing last year has concluded with the crash's cause still a mystery, authorities said.
The probe into the Nov. 22, 2023, crash that killed Kurt and Monica Villani, both 53, "is considered closed at this point, but can be reopened if any new evidence comes to light,” Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino told The Buffalo News this week. Restaino said investigators were hampered by the fact that the car’s event data recorder, or black box, was destroyed in the crash.
The Villanis, who were from the western New York community of Grand Island, were in a 2022 Bentley Flying Spur that crashed and exploded at the Rainbow Bridge connecting the cities of Niagara Falls, New York, and Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Security camera video showed the Bentley race through an intersection, hit a low median and vault high into the air just east of the bridge's main vehicle checkpoint. The car flew for yards (meters) and crashed into a line of checkpoint booths outside the camera’s view.
The violent crash at the U.S.-Canada border aroused fears of terrorism, but the FBI’s Buffalo office said its investigation found no signs of a terror attack and turned the case over to local police.
The Niagara Falls police investigated the crash without finding any answers to questions such as whether a mechanical failure or driver error was to b.