Crash Lands Identical Twins in Jail for Decades

Ruslan, Roman Glukhoy crashed into father and his 14-year-old daughter
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 23, 2017 3:01 PM CST
Identical Twins to Spend Decades Behind Bars
Composite of Ruslan, left, and Roman, right.   (Placer County Sheriff’s Office)

They share the same birthday and, now, the same fate: decades behind bars. California twins Ruslan and Roman Glukhoy were on Friday sentenced for the murders of Jose Barriga-Tovar and his 14-year-old daughter, Anahi Tovar. The 35-year-old was driving his child to a friend's house on the morning of April 2, 2014, to catch the bus to school when they were struck by a stolen pickup being driven by Ruslan in Antelope, just northeast of Sacramento. It was the deadly climax of a chase that began in South Auburn, where the identical brothers and a third man were observed breaking into cars, reports the Auburn Journal. They sped away in a BMW, only to crash at an I-80 off-ramp.

The brothers, then 19, next stole the truck, which Placer County officials believe they were driving as fast as 100mph before the fatal crash occurred. Ruslan Glukhoy was handed life in prison without parole; his brother got 30 years to life, reports the Sacramento Bee. In an interview with the Bee days after the crash, the men's parents spoke of the promise the boys—immigrants to America from Ukraine 13 years prior—once held as star wrestlers (Roman won a state championship). They said things began to fall apart after a 2011 car crash that led both to become dependent on prescription painkillers. In her own interview with the Bee, Anahi Corona-Tovar, wife and mother to the victims, recounted learning about the deaths while watching the morning news. (These parents lost two children in a car wreck, but are now having twins.)

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