KENOSHA, Wis. — Kenosha Police have released the identity of the 67-year-old man killed Monday in a violent crash that prosecutors allege was caused by a 21-year-old Bristol woman driving too fast and under the influence of marijuana. The victim was identified as David A. Aiken, 67. Kenosha Police provided Aiken’s name Wednesday in response to a records request from Kenosha County Eye. Kenosha Police Lt. Adam Jurgens assured Kenosha County Eye that next-of-kin notification had been made.
(Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office)
Natalie Faith Benante, 21, of Bristol, is charged with second-degree reckless homicide, homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle and knowingly operating without a valid license causing death. Kenosha County Court Commissioner Daniel E. Kellum set Benante’s cash bail at $200,000 Tuesday.
The charges stem from the Aug. 10 crash on 52nd Street in Kenosha. According to the criminal complaint, Kenosha Police officers were dispatched at approximately 2:25 p.m. for a report of a high-speed, two-vehicle crash with severe injuries. Officers found a red 2015 Chevrolet Spark and a blue 2026 Honda Civic with heavy, disabling front-end damage. Aiken, the sole occupant and driver of the Chevrolet, was unconscious and not breathing and was pronounced dead at the scene by Kenosha Fire Department personnel.
Benante was identified as the driver and sole occupant of the Honda. She had to be extricated from the vehicle and was transported by ambulance to Froedtert South Pleasant Prairie Hospital for emergency treatment. Police subsequently learned Benante did not possess a valid Wisconsin driver’s license and that her Illinois license had expired Dec. 24, 2025. Benante allegedly admitted that she knew her license had been expired for approximately eight months but continued driving because she lacked the money to renew it or obtain a Wisconsin license.
An eyewitness told police that Benante’s Honda exited the Kwik Trip at 6300 52nd Street at a high rate of speed and was swerving and fishtailing before striking another vehicle. According to the complaint, the Honda scraped along the driver’s side of that vehicle before being pushed into the eastbound lane and colliding head-on with Aiken’s Chevrolet.
Benante allegedly gave police her own account of the moments leading up to the fatal collision. She admitted in a written statement that she attempted to pass another vehicle using the curb lane while traveling westbound on 52nd Street. When she realized the lane was ending, Benante said she attempted to merge back while “going too fast,” lost control, spun across the double-yellow line and entered oncoming traffic, striking Aiken’s car head-on.
Police also found an empty “Muha Meds” vape box labeled “Lychee Kush Hybrid” on the passenger-side floorboard of Benante’s Honda. At the hospital, Benante allegedly admitted to Kenosha Police Officer Aquino, an IACP-certified Drug Recognition Expert, that she had taken two hits of Indica marijuana from a bong at approximately 9:30 that morning.
Aquino reported observing several clinical signs of impairment, including a significant time-estimation deficit and a lack of convergence in Benante’s eyes. Based on his training, observations and Benante’s admission of marijuana use, Aquino concluded that Benante was under the influence of cannabis to a degree that rendered her incapable of safely operating a motor vehicle.
Benante consented to a blood draw at approximately 5:05 p.m. The criminal complaint does not contain the results of laboratory testing on that blood.
As police placed Benante under arrest for OWI, she allegedly made a series of spontaneous statements about what had happened.
“I’m sad,” Benante allegedly said. “I truly murdered that man.”
She then allegedly told officers, “I can’t even smoke weed. Like this fucking sucks, but it is what it is.”
The homicide-by-intoxicated-use-of-a-vehicle charge is a Class D felony carrying a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison and a $100,000 fine. Wisconsin law generally requires at least five years of initial confinement upon conviction unless the sentencing judge finds a compelling reason to impose less. The charge of knowingly operating without a valid license causing death is a Class H felony carrying up to six years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The amended complaint added second-degree reckless homicide, another Class D felony.
Benante remains subject to the $200,000 cash bail set by Kellum. Her preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 18 at 10:45 a.m.
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36 Responses
Wow, what a sad story! Please hold this girl accountable!
Sad. But I know this girl personally and it was truly an accident like all of us could have had. Think of it as your own shoes.. sad a life was lost but remember. It was an accident.
Drug use is no accident, it’s a pathetic weakness of moral character. Killing someone because of moral weakness is no accident.
$20 says this guy’s a drinker
Ha, you think you’re Colombo lol, moron. In my 50’s and stopped drinking when I started college and grew up. You’re excuse??? ….mental weakling.
She killed someone. She must pay the price
Yeah she accidentally took the bong hit and then accidentally got behind the wheel of a car she couldn’t control. That’s not how the law works bud and she’s likely looking at prison time.
Nobody gets charged with vehicular homicide for accidents. I hope your friend goes to prison.
… accidentally forgot to renew license, and accidentally forgot to not drive high, and accidentally forgot to go the speed limit….
Yeah because we all need to smoke weed in the morning and drive without a license.
its no accident. she was high!
Like I used to tell my children, it only takes 1 wrong choice to change your life forever and you have to remember that because it’s true !!
I’ll wait to convict her until I’ve seen all the evidence. I tend to doubt that two hits on a bong at 9:00 AM had her still impaired at 2:30 PM. I also wonder if her lawyer might be able to do anything with the fact that she had just been through a very traumatic experience. I wonder if she had a head injury. Could she have been suffering a concussion when she was being questioned and making those statements? In her traumatized and compromised state, was she able to understand the Miranda warning, assuming it was given to her? I see a suppression motion in the future, not that it’s likely to succeed though.
Bottom line she killed someone. Now it’s come to Jesus time.
The cop saw signs of impairment. She basically admitted to murder. I literally missed being on that very road by less than a half hour. That could have been me. Save your bleeding heart nonsense.
Oh, and no Miranda warning is needed for voluntary statements like the ones she gave the cop. I love it when people uneducated on the law try to cosplay as a civil rights expert.
I agree, that timeline doesn’t make sense. I wouldn’t be surprised if the tox report came back with more.
She most likely lied about the 9:30 am thing, it was probably much closer to the time of the accident and more than two hits.
I’m thinking she was puffing in the car, not @ 9am. Regardless she fucked up.
Story said she was pushed into other lane, not her fault, why didn’t other car stop?
Read the story again. She wasn’t pushed by another car.
Did you read the story? She was pushed into the lane because her car was weaving all over the place according to a witness. She bounced off another car. Why didn’t the other car stop?? The deceased driver who was minding his own business and staying in his own lane? Do you people all know this chick or something? They don’t charge someone with vehicular homicide for innocent “accidents.”
She was driving recklessly you moron.And who let her drive the new car with no license?
Thank you so much for reporting this. I’ve been looking everywhere for news about this crash but couldn’t find anything even in the Kenosha News (useless site). I was on that stretch of 52nd street about 2 p.m. Monday going westbound, I go by there all the time. If I had returned going back the other way just a few minutes before I did, that could have been me. I drove by the scene and when I saw all the EMT trucks and responders, I knew it was a very bad crash and I feared for the injured. I hope this chick doesn’t get a slap on the wrist from some liberal judge.
My deepest sympathies to Mr. Aiken’s family.
Thank you for your kind words, that was my cousin, who died, taking his cat to the vet. I don’t know what happened to the cat.
I read the cat died.
Enough with people trying to find some shred of reasoning to justify her behavior. She is responsible for a chain of events that resulted in another person’s death. Period.
1. Driving while intoxicated.
2. Entering an active roadway from a parking lot at a high rate of speed.
3. Failure to maintain control of her vehicle.
4. Attempting to pass on the right instead of slowing and merging.
These are all things that she didn’t need to do, but she did, and they resulted in a death. The true victims here were in the wrong place at the wrong time. This was not happenstance.
From some comments in this article:
Why didn’t the other driver stop when her vehicle came into oncoming traffic? Because it happened instantly! Do you really think the dead victim said “oh look, a car in my lane- let’s speed up and hit it head on”! Another says “two hits from a bong at 9:30 doesn’t make you intoxicated 5 hours later”? That’s an intoxicated person’s timeline of events and you want to use that to discredit the facts? Another says she was in a “traumatized state”- then stay home and get a ride to therapy. “Didn’t understand her Miranda warning“? – That’s after the accident already occurred and you’re looking for a loophole to excuse her behavior? It’s time to start assigning responsibility where it belongs- on the only individual that could have prevented this- Natalie.
And besides all that, she was driving on an expired license for over six months. So she knew she had no business driving.
Yeah, I think these commenters all know or are related to this chick. Their comments are ridiculous and ignorant, and callous towards the innocent victim. Voluntary statements to cops don’t require Miranda, and even if a cop solicits a statement, as long as it is not a custodial interrogation, it also doesn’t require Miranda.
I recollect when Officer Aquino was crushed to death by a drunk driver who didn’t face anything like this and when Sheriff Beth’s cousin had been drunk with her Pleasant Prairie Officer husband, Heckel, whose mom clerked for judge Bastianelli, hit and killed a girl who was walking. No Charges.
The family of the victim felt compelled to accept an offer in Civil court for wrongful death. It is always a tragedy regardless the facts and circumstances. This girl needs help. Not prison. America needs to stop feeding our people to the British Private Prison system. A pox on our history.
She definingly needs prison she killed someone and it wasnt an accident it was chain result of dumb decisions. If you dont want to learn life will definingly teach you.
So because the law screwed up in those cases (which I know nothing about and am taking your word), then we need to let ALL reckless intoxicated drivers off the hook? Two wrongs make a right?
I think not. She ended a man’s life, and that life was worth something. That was literally almost me.
The best “help” for her right now is a long jail stint to think about what she did. Liberal justice and light sentences are proven not to work, time and time again.
So what will be your excuse when she does a light sentence and goes out and kills someone else after release?? no regard for a human life, you must be a product of the ‘me first’ generation….cripes.
The driver is guilty and hopefully the legal system will set an example by administering the max penalty.
And….Should be further consideration regarding financial responsibility which will likely be settled in more court action.
Drives a 2026 Honda but can’t afford to renew drivers license or car license. Does she have insurance?
Hope she has lots of time in prison to think about killing someone & she’s made as an example for others.
Years ago in Racine they had commercials with the drunk drivers. They should do that everywhere.
A kid in Kenosha County did about the same thing 7 ish years ago and killed a 14 year old boy ! The kid got sentenced to 7 years in prison and probably did 5 ! So going rate for a life isn’t much these days which is why this shit keeps happening!!
A kid in Kenosha County did about the same thing 7 ish years ago and killed a 14 year old boy ! The kid got sentenced to 7 years in prison and probably did 5 ! So going rate for a life isn’t much these days which is why this shit keeps happening!!
She killed David and his cat Daffodil