NJ man guilty of killing couple, drunk-driving BMW at 100+ mph

MOUNT HOLLY — A 31-year-old man could get 12 ½ years in prison after pleading guilty to high-speed crash that caused a married couple to drown in an icy lake last year.

Amish Patel, of Delanco, was driving his BMW 440 at more than 100 mph on Jan. 13, 2018, when he lost control on Route 130 in Willingboro and crashed into a minivan that was stopped at a jug handle on Bridgeboro Road. The speed limit is 50 mph.

The BMW pushed the minivan over a guardrail, down an embankment and into Olympia Lake.

The Burlington Township couple in the minivan — Robert Stephens, 52, and Janet Stephens, 50 — died from drowning, an autopsy revealed.

Patel pleaded guilty on Thursday to second-degree vehicular homicide and driving while intoxicated.

He is scheduled to be sentenced in Superior Court in January.