Lincoln man dies in Omaha crash

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By The Lincoln Journal Star

Jeff Detweiler was never good at keeping secrets from his girlfriend, Alyssa Elwood.

“He would just blurt something out and then say, ‘I shouldn’t have said that,’” Elwood said.

About two weeks ago, Detweiler blurted out another secret — a really big one.

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Jeff Detweiler (Courtesy)

Jeff Detweiler (Courtesy)

“He told me he’d started saving for an engagement ring,” Elwood said.

But Detweiler never got the chance to buy that ring and propose to his girlfriend.

Detweiler, a 2005 graduate of Parkview Christian High School, died Tuesday morning in a three-vehicle collision in Omaha.

According to Omaha Police, Detweiler was driving a motorcycle west on Leavenworth Street around 7:55 a.m. when he ran a red light at the intersection with 50th Street and struck a black Chevrolet Blazer driven by Catherine Hammer Ortiz, 66, of Omaha.

The Blazer, which was northbound on 50th Street, was pushed into a southbound Silver Honda CRV driven by Jodi Gentleman, 38, of Omaha.

Neither Hammer Ortiz nor Gentleman was injured, but Detweiler was taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where he died from his injuries.

There is no indication alcohol or drugs were factors in the collision, and no charges are expected police said.

Elwood has known Detweiler since they were in seventh grade, but they became good friends around their junior year in high school, she said.

“It’s kind of funny — I was dating his best friend and he was dating my best friend,” she said. “Neither one of those relationships really worked out, and somehow we ended up together.”

The summer after their sophomore year in college, Elwood and Detweiler ran into each other again at a friend’s house, Elwood said.

“For some reason we really hit it off, started hanging out all the time, and less than a month later we were dating,” she said.

Elwood remembers being impressed with how much Detweiler hanged changed and grown up.

“He taught me how to strike out on my own,” she said.

Detweiler was majoring in architectural engineering at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, and he had an internship with the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

He really enjoyed his job, said his mother, Beth Detweiler.

“He realized you have to graduate, but he said he was learning more in work than he was in school,” his mother said.

Detweiler loved outdoor activities such as snowboarding, fishing and riding ATVs, said his father, Gary Detweiler.

Jeff Detweiler was “a real gentle soul,” and people didn’t always realize how bright he was at first, his father said.

“As he started to mature he put a lot more of his horsepower to work,” Gary Detweiler said. “I think we’d only seen a small part of what Jeffrey could accomplish.”

Funeral services are at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Calvary Community Church, 1st and Superior streets.

Detweiler would have turned 21 on Saturday, his father said.

“We’re going to celebrate his going to Heaven instead,” his father said. “That’s what makes this bearable is knowing his eternal destiny was secure.”