Family releases photo of boy killed when semi hit house

WINNEBAGO COUNTY, Wis. (WBAY) - Family have released a photo of a boy killed when a semi hit a home in Winnebago County Monday.

The family released the photo of 8-month-old Martin Stechner III through their attorneys.

The family has requested privacy and directed questions to be posed to their attorneys.

A local non-profit has launched a community effort to help the boy’s family. Solutions Recovery in Oshkosh, using its online fundraising platform, has started the only donation website endorsed by the family.

You can send donations to:

Solutions Recovery

Attn: Mendoza/Stechner Fund

621 Evans Street

Oshkosh, WI 54901

Make checks payable to the Mendoza/Stechner Fund

Or CLICK HERE to donate online.

The non-profit sent volunteers to the scene on Tuesday to help collect some of the family’s belongings for them as well as clean up the scene.

In an effort to ensure 100 percent of the money donated goes to the boy’s parents -- Jasmine Mendoza and Martin Stechner -- and their three surviving children, Solutions Recovery offered to host the fundraiser. It set a goal of $100,000.

On July 25, at about 6:03 p.m., dispatchers received multiple calls reporting a semi traveling south on I-41 had veered off the interstate through a fence line. The semi crossed a frontage road and hit an occupied house at Green Valley Road in Vinland.

“Tragically, one occupant inside the home died at the scene of the crash, an 8-month-old baby boy,” reads a statement from the Sheriff’s Office.

The driver of the semi was identified as a 63-year-old Little Chute man. He suffered minor injuries in the crash.

Green Valley Road was closed between State Highway 76 and County Highway GG for over 10 hours.

Investigators have not said what caused the driver to veer off the road.

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