It was just past midnight on a Friday when everything went terribly wrong on Interstate 65 in Hobart, Indiana. Three people — including two young brothers — never made it home. A fourth child is still in a hospital bed fighting for every breath. And the woman behind the wheel is now facing felony charges that could put her away for years.
Royce Sims was 9. His little brother Artavius was just 5. They were riding in a Ford Explorer driven by 31-year-old Renee Foster of Gary when the SUV slammed into the back of a disabled semi-truck parked on the right shoulder of southbound I-65, about a mile south of Ridge Road. The impact was described by Indiana State Police as happening at a high rate of speed, and the damage to that Explorer was catastrophic. Also killed in the crash was 19-year-old Raniah Simpson, who was riding in the same vehicle. One of the victims was ejected from the SUV on impact — a detail that tells you everything you need to know about how violent that collision truly was.
Seven-year-old Terrion, the younger brother of Royce and Artavius, somehow survived — but barely. He was airlifted by medical helicopter to the University of Chicago Medical Center with life-threatening injuries. As of the latest update, he’s still hospitalized in critical condition, fighting to stay alive while his family buries two of his brothers and processes a grief that most people will never have to know.
Think about that for a second. Three kids buckled — or not buckled — in the back of that SUV. Two of them gone. One of them still hanging on. The same night. The same crash. The same family shattered all at once.
Renee Foster also sustained injuries, specifically described as upper-body injuries, and was taken to Franciscan Health Crown Point for treatment. She wasn’t in handcuffs right away — not because she was cleared, but because she was still on a hospital bed when investigators submitted their recommended charges to the Lake County Prosecutor’s Office. Those charges are no joke: four counts of neglect of a dependent — each a Level 5 felony carrying one to six years in prison — along with reckless driving, driving while suspended, and four child restraint violations. That last part is particularly gut-wrenching. Four violations. For four children who may not have been properly secured before that SUV hit a parked truck at highway speed in the dead of night.
Foster reportedly told troopers she had fallen asleep at the wheel before the crash. Both she and the semi-truck driver agreed to blood draws. Toxicology results are still pending, and investigators are still piecing together the full picture of what happened in those final seconds before impact. The driver of the semi-truck walked away without a scratch.
Royce and Artavius Sims are gone. Raniah Simpson is gone. Terrion is in a Chicago hospital, still fighting. Their family — including relatives identified as Renee Foster and Michelle Foster — is now navigating the kind of loss that changes people permanently. The investigation is ongoing, and the legal process is just getting started. But right now, none of that brings back two little boys or eases the pain of a family waiting by a hospital bed, praying the third one makes it.
