2 filmmakers die in box truck crash on I-95 in Delaware

NEWARK, Del. - Two Maryland filmmakers known for helping expand commercial advertising and the film and television industry in the Baltimore-Washington area have died in a car accident in Delaware, according to authorities and an associate.

Martin Whittier, 37, and Nate Brubaker, 27, died Thursday night after a box truck collided with their car, which Delaware State Police said had become disabled in a lane on a stretch of Interstate 95 near Newark, The Baltimore Sun reported. The truck struck the car from behind — pushing it toward the shoulder — and then caught fire, pinning the men inside their vehicle, according to police. The truck driver wasn't injured.

Andrew Geraci, a filmmaker and friend of the men, said that Whittier and Brubaker were returning Thursday to Maryland from a production in Philadelphia.

Brubaker, of Halethorpe, was considered a pioneer in virtual production filming, and created the first large-scale LED wall in the Baltimore and Washington region, Geraci said. Whittier, of Havre de Grace, started or owned camera equipment companies in Baltimore, Philadelphia and Alexandria, Virginia, before selling his company recently, the newspaper reported.