TOLA — Kasey Grelle, the 41-year-old co-founder and CEO of St. Louis-based marketing consulting firm Aux Insights, was killed on March 23 when an open-air tourist transport truck crashed inside the Rancho Santana resort in Tola, Nicaragua. More than 20 people, including children, were injured in the crash.
The truck, carrying roughly 28 foreign passengers, lost control while descending a hill inside the resort and flipped. Grelle had been vacationing in Nicaragua with her husband Dave and their three children. Victims were treated at the scene by resort staff and emergency responders before being rushed to the Hospital Gaspar García Laviana in Rivas. Nicaragua's National Police are investigating the circumstances of the crash.
Andy Joyce, Grelle's brother, wrote in an April 1 Facebook post: "Kasey was on a family vacation in Nicaragua and on a tour put on by the resort she was staying at with her kids, Kit and Julian, when the driver lost control and rolled the vehicle, killing Kasey and severely injuring Julian." Joyce added, "Kasey was one of the most brilliant, driven and selfless people I have ever met and she was relentless in everything she did, especially when it came to helping her people."
Grelle's 11-year-old son Julian was critically injured and airlifted to a hospital in St. Louis, according to a family fundraiser page on GoFundMe. Julian suffered head trauma, skull fractures, spine fractures and a collapsed lung, the fundraiser page stated.
Grelle is survived by her husband and their three children: Julian, 11; Kit, 9; and Des, 6. Grelle had been the family's primary provider after her husband suffered serious injuries in a previous accident, according to the GoFundMe page. A fundraiser set up for the children raised more than $302,000 as of Saturday, surpassing its $250,000 goal, the page showed.
Aux Insights is a strategic marketing consulting firm that works with private equity firms. In a 2025 podcast interview, Grelle said the company had surpassed $10 million in annual revenue in under two years and was profitable from the outset without outside funding.
Before launching Aux Insights, Grelle worked in venture capital and corporate dealmaking. She served as CEO of Gateway Media, where she helped restructure the business and pay down $40 million in debt before its sale. Grelle began her career as a TV news reporter and earned an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis.