A decade later, woman blamed for fiancé's death discovers it was caused by faulty GM part
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
For almost 10 years, Candice Anderson blamed herself for the car accident that killed her fiancé, Mikale Erickson. But in May, she found out that GM has linked his death to a faulty ignition switch. On Thursday, the company will announce the findings of its investigation into why it took more than a decade to recall 2.6 million cars with that exact problem.
Anderson told CBS News that in November 2004, the Saturn Ion she was driving in Canton, Texas, went off the road. The airbags did not deploy and there were no skid marks or any other obvious clues as to what had happened. Anderson barely survived, and was found with a small amount of anti-anxiety drugs in her system. She was charged with manslaughter and pleaded guilty to criminal negligent homicide.
"It's been a question if I was at fault for his death, and I've carried it for so long," she told CBS News. In May, Anderson and Mikale's mother, Rhonda Erickson, heard that Mikale's death was one of 13 GM linked to the faulty ignition switch, a fact confirmed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The women say they have yet to hear from GM. "I think they owe me an apology," Erickson said. "They can’t give me back my son. But, I mean, they could at least give me an apology." She would also like to see Anderson's record cleared.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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