GRAND COUNTY, Colo. — Prosecutors on Wednesday charged a driver with several counts of criminally negligent homicide in connection with a head-on crash that killed an entire family south of Kremmling last year.
Samuel Roland Conger, 26, is facing five counts of criminally negligent homicide for the deaths of 34-year-old Manuel Cabral-Torres, 30-year-old Andrea Banuelos-Salazar, and their three children — 12-year-old Maria Cabral-Banuelos, 5-year-old Manuel Cabral-Banuelos, and 2-year-old Andres Cabral-Banuelos.
Details about the cause of the deadly crash remained hidden from public view for months as investigators worked to develop probable cause to make an arrest in the case.
But on the anniversary of the crash, the Colorado State Patrol said it had presented their investigative findings to the 14th Judicial District Attorney’s Office in Grand County for review and filing of charges – a step that signaled prosecutors were close to revealing what happened on Aug. 4, 2025.
In an unsealed affidavit obtained by Denver7 Friday, a witness to the crash said he was driving the morning of Aug. 24 along Highway 9 near milepost 136 when he saw Conger’s Ford F150 traveling north along the highway.
The witness told investigators he saw “the truck started to veer into his lane, and he had to swerve to avoid the truck hitting his vehicle,” according to the arrest affidavit.
The driver told troopers Conger’s head was down, “appearing asleep or passed out” behind the wheel, and said he saw the vehicle continue moving into the southbound lane of the highway through his rear-view mirror before the F150 collided head on with a maroon GMC Yukon.
Other witnesses provided troopers with similar accounts of the crash, the affidavit states.
The F150 was going at about 78 to 86 mph in a posted 65 mph zone at the time of impact, according to arresting documents.
Troopers said Conger “drove into the oncoming lane for hundreds of feet prior to the collision,” and did not try to brake “or take an evasive maneuver to avoid oncoming traffic.”
The crash caused the F150 and the Yukon to spin clockwise before both vehicles caught fire, according to the arrest affidavit in the case.
Witnesses told troopers they tried to get everyone out of their vehicles after the crash but the flames prevented anyone from helping the Banuelos family get out of their burning vehicle. Conger was able to get out of his car with the help of bystanders, arresting documents show.
Conger was then flown to St. Anthony’s Hospital in Lakewood for treatment. The remaining five victims all died at the scene, prosecutors said.
Criminally negligent homicide carries a maximum sentence of three years in jail and a fine of up to $100,000 for each count in the state of Colorado.
It was not immediately clear when Conger would make his first court appearance.
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