No secret: President Joe Biden’s first wife died in a car crash
If your time is short
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President Joe Biden’s first wife, Nealia, died in a car crash in 1972 in Hockessin, Delaware.
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Biden was in Washington, D.C., at the time.
A recent Instagram post accused President Joe Biden of killing his first wife, Nealia Biden. There is no basis for this claim.
“Yall know Biden killed his first wife and blamed it on a drunk driver and the man hadn’t even been drinking and the police reports have been lost,” the July 18 post said.
It was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
Nealia Biden, 30, was driving the family’s station wagon Dec. 18, 1972, when she and Biden’s infant daughter, Naomi, were killed in a collision. Biden’s sons, Beau and Hunter, were injured in the Hockessin, Delaware, crash. Biden, then a Democratic senator from the state, was in Washington, D.C., at the time.
Police reports have been lost, and a Delaware judge who investigated the crash told CBS News in 2009 that there was no sign that Curtis Dunn, the driver of a truck that hit the Biden family’s car, had been drinking.
Dunn’s daughter, Pam Hamill, said her father “grieved” over the crash.
“He was haunted and was tormented by that for years,” she said.
She also said the collision was a “tragic accident” and that “no alcohol was involved.”
We rate claims that Biden killed his first wife Pants on Fire!
Our Sources
Instagram post, July 18, 2024
The New York Times, BIDEN'S WIFE, CHILD KILLED IN CAR CRASH, Dec. 19, 1972
CBS News, Driver In Biden Crash Wanted Name Cleared, March 24, 2009
CBS News, President Biden marks 50 years since car crash that killed his first wife and baby daughter, Dec. 18, 2022
The Washington Post, After Biden’s wife died in a crash 50 years ago, Richard Nixon called, Dec. 17, 2022
