A Canadian mother whose three children were killed in a 2015 drunk-driving crash says she has become a recluse, struggling with a sense of being a drain on society as she marks a decade of loss that also claimed her husband’s life years later. Jennifer Neville-Lake spoke about the enduring impact of the tragedy, saying she relies on professional and peer support to stay connected to life as she moves forward without her family.
The crash occurred in September 2015 in Vaughan, Ontario, when Marco Muzzo, then a billionaire construction heir, drove after a celebration trip and ran a stop sign, plowing into the Neville-Lake family minivan. The collision killed Daniel, 9, and Harry, 5, instantly, and Milly, 2, died shortly afterward in a local children’s hospital after being declared brain dead. The grandmother and great-grandmother of the children were injured but survived. Neville-Lake described the moment she learned the children were gone and the consequences that followed, including a period in which she was held for 24 hours due to concerns for her safety after the crash. "In those hours, because he was considered property of the coroner, he stopped being a person," she recalled, referring to Daniel. "I didn’t have any rights to my child until they told me I could see him, until I was allowed to see him again."
Muzzo, who was intoxicated at the time and had three to four drinks on his private jet ride home from a trip to Miami, faced a high-profile trial. His blood-alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit when the crash occurred. The case culminated in 2016 with Muzzo receiving a ten-year sentence for impaired driving causing death and bodily harm, a sentence described at the time as among the harshest for a first-time offender in drunk driving cases. He began serving his term in prison but was granted day release in May 2020, with the parole board extending that release in November 2020 and ordering a review of full parole. He was granted full parole in February 2021 and released fully on June 18, 2022; his sentence is set to expire in July 2025.
The aftermath of the losses extended beyond the courtroom. Neville-Lake’s husband, Edward, died by suicide in 2022, leaving the family teetering in the wake of the tragedy. In the period immediately after the crash, Neville-Lake said she grappled with thoughts of self-harm, though friends helped prevent any tragedy for herself. She described a sense of isolation that persisted long after the court proceedings, aided by a support network of friends, family and medical professionals who she said keep her alive. "They help me. They help me think, help me make decisions, help me survive and bring a lot of, how do you say, like color and light to my darkness," she said.
The family later endured a separate blow when their home burned in June of last year, destroying the urns that held the children's remains. Neville-Lake said she plans to inter the urns with their father, Edward, and she also expressed hope that, when her time comes, she will be laid to rest with her family. She described skin hunger—the longing to touch living children again—as a common feeling for someone who has lost their kids, adding that the last time she touched them they were dead, a stark contrast to the experience of holding living children. To cope, she continues to arrange what she calls keepsake rituals, including birthday celebrations at the cemetery where the children are interred.
Muzzo, who inherits a billion-dollar construction business, has faced ongoing scrutiny over his release and the shadow of the crash on the communities affected by the family’s philanthropy. In the years since, there has been public effort to address the moral implications of his name remaining connected to institutions that benefited from his family’s donations, including petitions to remove the Muzzo name from two Toronto-area hospitals. Neville-Lake noted she expected little from the justice system and described the ongoing grief as she and others in her life navigate the anniversary.
In reflecting on the decade since the tragedy, Neville-Lake said she continues to rely on a network of people who provide practical and emotional support, but she still faces a future shaped by loss, legal debates and the long shadow cast by Muzzo’s actions. She remains clear about the emptiness of the life that existed before the crash and the longing to reclaim a sense of meaning, no matter how incremental the steps may be. Her story underscores the long, sometimes invisible, toll of preventable tragedies and the ways communities respond to—and endure—trauma over many years.