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Edward Lake, the father of three children killed by a drunk driver in a Greater Toronto Area collision almost seven years ago, has died.
The mother of Lake’s children, Jennifer Neville-Lake, posted on her social media pages about his passing.
“My children’s father, Edward Lake, has joined our kids so they can play together, forever,” she wrote.
“The eyes he shared with Harry are forever closed. Daniel’s curls will never shine in the sunlight again. I will never see Milly’s shy smile creep across his lips anymore … Mahal kita, Edward.”
The post refers to Daniel, 9, his brother Harrison, 5, and their sister Milly, 2, who were all killed in a September 2015 collision on a rural road near Kleinburg, Ont. Mahal kita means “I love you” in Filipino.
The children’s grandfather, Gary Neville, was also killed, while their grandmother and great-grandmother were seriously injured.
Lake’s death was also confirmed by police.
“This evening I was very saddened to learn of the tragic death of Ed Lake. The losses to the Neville-Lake family are heart wrenching,” York Regional Police Chief Jim MacSween wrote on Twitter on Monday.
The drunk driver responsible for the crash was Marco Muzzo, who had just returned home from his bachelor party in Miami. Muzzo was driving 85 km/h when he went through a stop sign in his Jeep, striking a minivan with the Neville-Lakes inside. His blood alcohol level was at least twice the legal limit at the time of the collision.
Muzzo was eventually sentenced to 10 years behind bars after pleading guilty in 2016 to four counts of impaired driving causing death and two counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm. He was granted full parole, with conditions, in February 2021.
At Muzzo’s sentencing hearing, Lake told the court that he had been suffering from depression and suicidal thoughts and had frequent night terrors.
“I feel lost. I feel destroyed. That’s what I feel,” he told media outside the courthouse after the hearing.