Man gets 15 years in prison after fatal Catawba County DWI crash

CATAWBA COUNTY, N.C. — A man will spend the next 15 years in prison after driving drunk and crashing his vehicle, killing a pastor.

The man died with his three children in the van.

Reporter Dave Faherty was in court as the district attorney made a rare request for the defendant’s prison cell.

Not only were family members of pastor Michael Vanderburg in the Catawba County courthouse Monday, but members of his congregation were present, too.

Vanderburg tried to shield his daughter from the impact of the crash.

Family members of Vanderburg fought back tears as they spoke about his life and tragic death in Catawba County in December.

"Who will walk my daughters down the aisle on their wedding day, and who will teach my son to be a man?" widow Ashley Vanderburg asked.

"For someone who was such a light to all he encountered to have his life cut short so violently is incomprehensible," said Michelle Fedrick, Vanderburg's sister.

Vanderburg was driving his three children when Zachariah Carl ran a red light near the fairgrounds, killing the pastor.

In court, Channel 9 learned Carl's blood alcohol level was three-and-a-half times the legal limit at the time of the crash. Because of two previous DWI convictions, Carl faced a second-degree murder charge.

The district attorney asked for more than just the maximum sentence, requesting a photo of the victim be kept in Carl's cell.

"Every day he is in prison, he will have this photograph of Mr Vanderburg," District Attorney David Learner said. "Maybe he doesn't need reminders of what he did, or maybe he does need reminding."

Carl's family members blamed his problems on his alcohol dependency. At the time of the crash, his license was suspended for DWI convictions in 2011 and 2015.

"That evening will forever haunt me," Carl said. "I wish so many times I could go back and
do things differently that night."

Vanderburg's family asked for Carl to be punished, but also spoke of forgiveness.

"I want the defendant to know I have forgiven him, as this is what Michael would have wanted, and the action I must take as a Christian," Fedrick said.

The judge gave Carl the maximum sentence of at least 15 years of prison time and required him to keep that photo of the pastor in his jail cell.

Cox Media Group