Mother whose daughter died in 2018 Mill Valley hit-and-run thanks women who cracked the case
In the quiet confines of her kitchen in Fairfax, Connie Siegenthaler was preparing for an emotional meeting six years in the making.
"This is the one last detail of this whole ordeal that I need to take care of," she said.
She was about to come face to face with two strangers who were instrumental in identifying a man responsible for her daughter's death.
"I've never met them yet and to be able shake their hands and thank them for doing the right thing," she said.
In 2018, her 29-year-old daughter Marie was riding her motorcycle southbound on Highway 101 near Tiburon Boulevard in Mill Valley when she was rear-ended by a truck, throwing her off her motorcycle and onto the freeway. The driver of the truck fled the scene.
Less than a minute later, another car hit and killed her. That driver stayed and waited for police.
"They said that she had been hit by a Chevy Suburban. They figured that out the next day," Marie's mother said, choking back tears.
The Siegenthaler family offered a $15,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the hit-and-run driver.
The car was eventually found in a Petaluma auto repair shop owned by the driver's uncle, after two different women turned him in.
The driver, identified as Frank Barone Jr., was later found guilty of two felonies and sentenced to four years and eight months in prison, but was released last year after serving one year and seven months.
"I'm trying to find it my heart to forgive this guy, because I feel like it's poisoning me. But it's really difficult," Siegenthaler said.
Since then, she's been busy honoring Marie, a science illustrator, establishing the Tentacles & Wings Foundation that provides art supplies to struggling college students.
"We've lost Marie forever and she'll always be an empty chair at every family gathering. And that is a knife in the heart and it's never going to go away," she said. "But helping other students and focusing on the foundation has been really huge for our family."
Jason Dunn is the department chair of Fine Arts and Architecture at the College of Marin. He said the project -- called Marie's Lending Library -- has been nothing short of a godsend.
"This is always open during every ceramic class and these tools are used by every class," he said.
Now, nearly six years after her daughter's death, Siegenthaler is finally handing out the reward to the two women who helped crack the case.
"I feel like I'm dotting the last 'i' and crossing the last 't,'" she said.
As the women arrive, Siegenthaler gave them each a check of $7,500. Silvia Schagerer, the uncle's former girlfriend, said staying silent just wasn't an option.
"I decided to call a couple of months later," she said. "I couldn't live with myself having the information and the family needed to know what had happened."
Lisa Marsh, whose friend was present when Barone and his uncle discussed the incident, said the moment she heard the information, she knew she had to come forward.
"It took me a few hours, but I had a friend at the highway patrol and gave him call and just said, 'I need to tell this,'" she said.
For Siegenthaler, it was the closure she'd been seeking all these years.
"This may be a little less than Christian, but I'm hoping Frank Barone sees this on TV and sees these women getting this reward for turning him in" she said.
