Wrong-way I-43 driver guilty of homicide

A 35-year-old man who was intoxicated and driving the wrong way on I-43 when he slammed head-on into a vehicle, killing a couple from Oostburg and seriously injuring their daughter near Port Washington early Memorial Day 2025, pleaded no contest in Ozaukee County Circuit Court Tuesday to two counts of homicide and a third felony.

Ace Vue of Milwaukee, who authorities say passed 24 vehicles at speeds that exceeded 100 mph while driving the wrong way on the freeway, now faces a recommendation from Ozaukee County District Attorney Benjamin Lindsay that he be sentenced to 20 years in prison followed by 15 years of extended supervision.

During a Feb. 10 hearing, Judge Sandy Williams accepted Vue’s pleas to two counts of homicide by the intoxicated use of a vehicle-second or subsequent offense and causing great bodily harm by the intoxicated use of a vehicle in connection with the deaths of Jay and Nicole Horne and the injuries suffered by their daughter Alissa, who was 22 at the time.

Williams found Vue guilty and scheduled his sentencing for May 12.

Seven felony counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety were dismissed as part of a plea agreement but read into the record, which means Williams can consider the facts surrounding those charges when sentencing him.

Vue was initially charged with first-degree reckless homicide and injury, but on Tuesday Lindsay amended the charges to reflect the results of toxicology tests.

Vue, who was hospitalized immediately after the crash, then booked into the Ozaukee County jail days later, has been held since then in lieu of $2 million bail. Williams revoked his bail Tuesday after accepting his pleas.

During a bail hearing in June, Lindsay said that just after midnight on Monday, May 26, Vue drove his 2025 Lexus IS sedan back and forth on I-43 between the Sheboygan County line and Port Washington in the correct traffic lanes, at one point crossing through the grass median to go the other direction, until stopping on the freeway, doing a U-turn and driving south in the northbound lanes.

Footage from a dash camera in Vue’s vehicle, which also recorded his speed, showed him passing two dozen vehicles, forcing several drivers to take evasive action to avoid collisions, while driving the wrong way, Lindsay said.

For seven minutes Vue was driving at more than 100 mph. He was traveling at 92 mph when he hit the Hornes’ 2017 Ford Escape, according to a criminal complaint.

During this week’s hearing, Vue’s lawyer, Kevin Gaertner, suggested his client didn’t remember the crash. When Williams asked him if Vue was pleading no contest  because of possible civil liability lawsuits,  Gaertner said, “based on that and his lack of memory.”

Authorities were alerted to Vue driving the wrong way by several 911 calls shortly before the crash, and at 12:37 a.m. May 26 an Ozaukee County sheriff’s deputy was dispatched to an area of I-43 near Belgium for multiple reports of a red sedan driving south in the northbound lanes while swerving and speeding. The Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Office received several similar 911 calls.

Moments later, Port Washington police officers who were watching for the car from the Highway H overpass near the north side of Port saw it collide head-on with another vehicle.

Officers arrived at the scene to find a Ford Escape that had suffered “devastating damage.” Mr. Horne, who was a front seat passenger in the vehicle, was found in the median deceased. Mrs. Horne, who was driving, was pinned in the vehicle. Emergency responders initially detected a pulse, but she quickly died, the complaint states.

Alissa Horne, who was in the back seat, was pinned in the vehicle and conscious. After being extricated from the vehicle, she was taken by ambulance to Froedtert Hospital. She suffered two broken femurs and a broken ankle.

A volunteer firefighter who was in a vehicle next to the Hornes’ Escape when the collision occurred and stopped at the scene of the crash to help said Mrs. Horne swerved but could not avoid Vue’s car, which struck the front and passenger side of the Escape, according to the complaint.

Officers investigating the crash discovered Vue’s vehicle had a front and rear-facing dash camera. A search warrant was obtained for footage from the camera, which showed Vue driving south on I-43 from Sheboygan County in the correct lanes, then exiting the freeway on the north side of Port Washington.

He crossed the I-43 overpass on Highway H and got back on the freeway, driving north in the correct lanes until he was north of Belgium, where he drove through the grass median of the freeway and headed south in the southbound lanes.

He exited the freeway at Belgium, then re-entered it and drove north in the northbound lanes until he was just south of Cedar Grove, where he did a U-turn and began driving south in the northbound lanes, the complaint states.

Dash camera footage shows several drivers of the vehicles Vue passed flashed their headlights and honked their horns at him in an effort to alert him to the fact he was driving the wrong way.

The criminal complaint details several accounts from motorists who encountered Vue on the freeway, including one from a  woman who told authorities that she and her husband, who were on their way home from Indiana, were driving north on I-43 when Vue passed them driving south in the northbound lanes. The woman, who called 911 as Vue continued on toward other drivers, said it seemed like he was traveling at 300 mph and never applied his brakes.

Another woman said she and her wife were driving from Milwaukee to their home in Sheboygan when the driver of the vehicle in front of them suddenly swerved and turned on the car’s hazard lights. That is when the woman said she saw Vue’s car headed towards her “really fast.” She was able to slow down and pull onto the shoulder to avoid Vue, the complaint states.

A third woman, who was in the vehicle with the firefighter, told authorities that the Hornes’ Ford Escape was initially behind her vehicle but then switched lanes and was passing their vehicle when Vue collided with the Escape. The crash happened so close to their vehicle that she thought they would also be hit, according to the complaint.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Williams ordered a presentence investigation. Gaertner said he would have an independent presentence investigation conducted.