Metal Guitarist Mark Filbrandt Killed by Alleged Drunk Driver
Beloved heavy metal guitarist Mark Filbrandt has died following a wrong-way crash in Minnesota on Saturday, Oct. 29. Gorrified, the death metal band Filbrandt played with, announced his passing on social media on Oct. 30, informing their fans, "we are very heartbroken to tell everyone the tragic news that our brother and guitarist Mark passed away last night. He was hit by a drunk driver on his way home from our show." Filbrandt was 54.
According to Fox9, Filbrandt was heading home after Gorrified played a show at a Wisconsin brewery Saturday night. As he traveled along I-94 in the Hudson area, a suspected drunk driver struck his vehicle. According to authorities, the driver of the other vehicle was going the wrong way down I-94 when the crash occurred. Filbrandt was killed in the crash. The other person involved in the incident, identified by police as 31-year-old Amber Pospisil, was not seriously injured.
Pospisil, who was convicted of DWI in Minnesota last year and sentenced to probation, was arrested and charged with homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle, as well as two counts of 2nd-degree recklessly endangering safety and driving the wrong way on a divided highway. According to authorities, she was drinking a bottle of Tito's vodka in her car on the way back from a wedding and had no memory of getting on the interstate heading the wrong way. Her bail was set at $100,000 cash.
"That's been the hardest part, just accepting it. My heart just felt like it was ripped from my chest. I just have to keep reminding myself that he's gone. My heart and mind want to go back to normal like he's still here," Gorrified vocalist and bassist Brennon Betz told CBS Minnesota, adding to Fox9, "He was always just trying to better himself. There were some of our songs that he couldn't really, you know, play that well. But he taught himself how to play. He learned new techniques just so he could play our songs."
A GoFundMe page has since been created in an effort to raise money to cover the expenses of the beloved guitarist's funeral. The page it also seeking to "get some legislation to do SOMETHING (like spikes, more signage, painted arrows on the exit ramp, etc! To try and prevent this from recurring over & over & over again." A memorial for Filbrandt is scheduled to take place at The Underground NE Mpls at 7 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 9.