HARRISON COUNTY, Iowa – A man in Iowa is headed to a life sentence in prison for the murder of a friend he repeatedly ran over with a truck after a fight about mayonnaise, according to reports.
On Dec. 17, 2020, Caleb Solberg, 30, and Kristofer Erlbacher, now 29, and a third person were at a bar in Moorhead drinking and eating, according to the verdict. Erlbacher put mayonnaise on Solberg’s food. So Solberg punched Erlbacher, which sparked a bar fight, the Woodbine Twiner-Herald reported.
“It was just another bar fight in Harrison County,’ until it wasn’t any longer,” said Solberg’s half-brother Craig Pryor during the trial.
Erlbacher and the third person then drove about 10 minutes to a café in the small town of Pisgah. During the car ride Erlbacher called Pryor twice, threatened to shoot Solberg with his shotgun and threatened Pryor.
The third person then met Pryor and warned him about Erlbacher, who was inside, according to the complaint. Solberg arrived at the café and spoke with Pryor before a fight broke out between Solberg and the other person.
After that fight ended, Erlbacher exited the bar and used his 2001 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck to hit Pryor’s vehicle while Pryor was inside it, according to a criminal complaint. When Pryor got out to assess the damage, Erlbacher rammed Pryor and Pryor’s vehicle.
Sometime after that, Erlbacher used his truck to ram Solberg outside the café in Pisgah the Des Moines Register reported. Erlbacher initially drove away, then came back and ran over Solberg two more times, according to the Register.
“Erlbacher’s first blow to Solberg did not kill him. He can be heard screaming for his brother, Craig Pryor,” District Judge Greg Steensland wrote in the verdict, according to the Twiner-Herald.
“Rather than just leave, Erlbacher went down the street, turned around, and came back to strike Solberg a second time … To be sure he had completed the job, Erlbacher drove his truck up and over Solberg one last time.”
Erlbacher then drove off, but his truck broke down a short while later. On the phone, he told Pryor that he had killed Solberg.
According to the New York Post, Erlbacher was convicted after a bench trial in December last year and sentenced Monday.
