Officials have identified the victim of Monday’s deadly collision between a passenger sedan and a tractor-trailer near Haubstadt, Indiana.
The collision claimed the life of the driver of the sedan, identified in a Gibson County Sheriff’s Office crash report and an obituary as 29-year-old Jacob Birkla, of Evansville.
Gibson County Sheriff Bruce Vanoven shared the crash report with area media outlets Wednesday afternoon.
Birkla, a 2019 graduate of Eastern Illinois University, “always had a magnetic smile on his face” and “enjoyed making others feel good about themselves,” his obituary states.
Gibson County Ambulance Service crews and local police rushed to the scene of the fatal crash, the intersection of Indiana 68 and County Road 250 East at 7:48 p.m. Monday, where first responders found Birkla’s wrecked Buick Lacrosse and a damaged Freightliner tractor-trailer.
Jacob Adam Birkla, a 29-year-old graduate of Eastern Illinois University, was killed Monday, Aug. 4, 2025, in a crash near Haubstadt, Indiana, officials said.
Paramedics pronounced Birkla dead at the scene after life-saving measures proved unsuccessful, Vanoven stated in a previous news release.
As of Tuesday, the GCSO was continuing its investigation into the crash, though the agency released some preliminary findings.
Investigators determined Birkla failed to yield the right of way as he traveled south on County Road 250 East and entered the Indiana 68 intersection, pulling into the path of the tractor-trailer, according to a GCSO crash report.
“The Freightliner could not avoid the passenger car and struck the (sedan) at a right angle,” the GCSO stated in a news release. “As is the procedure with a fatal accident, the driver of the semi-truck was taken to an area hospital so that a blood draw could be obtained and sent off to the state.”
The driver of the tractor-trailer, a resident of Clarksville, Tennessee, did not appear to suffer any injuries, according to the crash report. The tractor-trailer’s owner is listed as Ryder Integrated Logistics, a global supply chain firm.
Birkla, a 2014 graduate of Mount Carmel High School, would go on to obtain a bachelor’s degree in TV and video production in 2019 from EIU in Charleston, Illinois.
“(Birkla) enjoyed many hobbies, including gaming with his family and friends, playing Mario Kart and Zelda, building Legos, and hanging out with friends,” his obituary reads. “His favorite times were spending time with his love, Amaya Willis, and his cat children… Jacob…
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