PROVO — Teri Dial said her twin sister, Michaela Himmleberger, or Misha, was part of her life every day for 48 years until she was killed during a road rage incident she wasn’t involved in 19 months ago.
She said her sister would be heartbroken to be part of something causing so much pain to her family and friends — so Dial battles her emotions and loses.
“We knew we could do anything, could get through anything because we had each other. To have her ripped away from us like that, so horrifically, so senselessly and without warning, is intolerable,” she said.
Himmelberger and her boyfriend, Rodney Salm, were killed while riding in a Porsche alongside other friends in Eagle Mountain when a Ford F-150 truck lost control and veered into oncoming traffic totaling three cars and causing damage to a fourth. The driver, Peterson Drew Matheson, 31, pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter on Nov. 7.
At his sentencing on Monday, the courtroom was full, with some people sitting in the jury box and others standing in the aisle. Fourth District Judge Robert Lund reduced Matheson’s charges from second- to third-degree felonies, following an agreement from attorneys on both sides, and sentenced him to two consecutive prison terms of zero to five years.
A tragedy
Lund, in one of his final hearings before retiring, said even though the driver of another car instigated the road rage dispute, Matheson’s actions were more aggressive. He said all Matheson had to do was slow down and give the other driver space.
He said hundreds of lives were impacted by the collision, noting the family members of Salm and Himmelberger and of Matheson, whose 2- and 4-year-old daughters will have less contact with their father.
The judge said this case is a tragedy that “defies description,” adding road rage is a “serious societal problem.”
He said he granted the request from deputy Utah County attorney McKay Lewis to have the sentences run consecutively, meaning Mathewson could spend up to 10 years in prison because the sentence should reflect both lost lives and be a deterrent for other drivers.
Lewis said Matheson was driving over 74 mph while on the shoulder of the road before he repeatedly bumped into the car and shortly lost control striking incoming traffic, including Salm’s Porsche. He said the two victims were killed on impact.
“Mr. Matheson’s lack of respect for the other people he shared the roadway with ultimately cost two innocent people their lives,” he said.
So much left to give
Dail talked about multiple times people her sister had worked with years earlier approached her thinking she was her twin, saying Himmelberger “had a lasting impact” on people around her. She said the suffering at her loss of her sister pales to the suffering from knowing her girls will live their adult lives without guidance from their aunt, and that her sister won’t be able to meet new babies in the family.
She said their dad died unexpectedly on the day Matheson entered his plea, and if her sister had been there she may have gotten medical attention sooner because she would have known the signs.
“I never once thought I would have to bury our dad without her,” Dial said.
She said Matheson’s “five-mile rampage” gave her family a life sentence. “She was our lighthouse and we are all adrift, so devastatingly lost without her. … She had so much more left to give,” Dial said.
After hearing Dial’s words, Salm’s sister, Michelle Salm, said it’s no wonder her brother found Himmelberger because her brother had a similarly large impact on those around him. She said he was her best friend — they took over their dad’s business together and lived in the same neighborhood.
She said she stayed at his home the week after his death because she needed to be close to him. “Droves of people” showed up during the next days knowing others would be there.
“His home was the home that we all gathered at; everybody was welcome,” Michelle Salm said.
Rodney Salm’s brother, Peter Salm, said he and his wife were going for a drive on June 4, 2023, and ran into a closed road in Eagle Mountain with emergency lights and heard there was a fatality. They turned around, and about 25 miles later, he got the call from his dad and learned it was his brother. He said he and his wife were hoping Himmelberger wasn’t with his brother and were later devastated to learn she was killed, as well.
Peter Salm said they will not get his brother or Himmelberger back, but he hopes the family can save others from the same pain by sharing his efforts to advocate for solutions to road rage.
‘I would do anything to go back’
Matheson said he planned to talk about what happened that day, but after listening to the victim’s family he decided to express that he has accepted responsibility and is “truly devastated” and sorry.
“I know that doesn’t change anything, but I would do anything to go back to that day and change my reactions and be a better person,” he said.
He said he lives with these feelings every hour.
His father, David Matheson, said the victims’ families have been in their thoughts and prayers, and his son has expressed remorse daily. He said he had been chosen while in jail to speak to church groups and college classes.
“Peter would never intentionally hurt anyone,” he said.
Peter Matheson’s attorney, Edward Brass, said the pain in the courtroom during the sentencing was “palpable,” and everyone was suffering.
“All that from a moment of anger and recklessness by two men,” he said.
Brass said he has watched his client cry for the lives that were cut short in the jail visiting rooms. He asked the judge for concurrent sentences so Peter Matheson could be reunited with his family sooner, but the judge opted for consecutive sentences.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
