Mystery deepens into Bentley driver Kurt Villani who plowed $300,000 'Flying Spur' supercar into Rainbow Bridge in fireball crash that sparked terror fears - as cops release major update

The mystery of why a $300,000 Bentley crashed into the US-Canada border crossing at 100mph and exploded, killing a couple inside, may never be solved as police close the case.

Kurt and Monica Villani, both 53, were incinerated in the huge fireball at the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls on November 22 while on their way to a KISS rock concert.

The couple from the western New York community of Grand Island were in a 2022 Bentley Flying Spur, which can go from zero to 60mph in four seconds.

Security camera video showed the Bentley race through an intersection, hit a low median and vault high into the air just east of the bridge's main vehicle checkpoint.

The car flew for several yards and crashed into a line of checkpoint booths outside the camera's view, then exploded in a massive fireball that melted it.

The violent crash at the US-Canada border aroused fears of terrorism, but the FBI's Buffalo office said its investigation found no signs of a terror attack and turned the case over to local police.

Eight months later, police are still stumped and the case 'is considered closed at this point, but can be reopened if any new evidence comes to light', Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino told The Buffalo News. 

Restaino said investigators were hampered by the fact that the car's event data recorder, or black box, was destroyed in the crash.

He said no one may ever know what caused the crash unless insurers discover it. 

The Niagara Falls police investigated the crash without finding any answers to questions such as whether a mechanical failure or driver illness or error was to blame.

Also unknown are whether the black box sent any information about the sudden acceleration to Bentley, or if the car maker's own investigation found anything.

Erin Bronner, a Bentley Motors spokesperson, told the Buffalo News last February that Bentley Motors was conducting an investigation into the fatal crash. 

Bronner declined to discuss any details of the case on Wednesday. 

Betsy Ertel, a spokesperson for the Cincinnati Insurance Companies, which insured the Bentley, declined to discuss details of any claim 'out of respect for the privacy of our policyholders'.

Police said the Villanis were killed instantly in the crash and pronounced dead at the scene. Whether any of their relatives will file a lawsuit is unknown.

The 2022 Flying Spur can go from zero to 60mph in four seconds and sells for $204,500 to $309,000 new, depending on optional extras.

The couple told friends there was a problem with the accelerator in the weeks before the crash.

Bentley recalled some car models in 2021 because accelerators were becoming stuck, sparking safety fears.

The car maker issued the recall in the summer of 2021 for Continental GT and Flying Spur models built between 2018 and 2021. 

The recall notice cited a manufacturing flaw that caused accelerators to get stuck while engaged.

'Due to inconsistent fitment of the fuse box and the electrical harness the A-post lower trim can protrude into the cabin reducing clearance to the accelerator pedal,' the notice warned.

'If the accelerator pedal is fully pressed whilst driving and is unable to return to its resting position, the vehicle will continue to accelerate, even when the driver's foot is removed from the accelerator pedal.' 

In July 1978, Villani's grandmother, Lorraine, was also killed in a horror crash when she was flung from a boat on the Niagara River at 3am. 

Kurt and Gail Villani were also on board at the time but were unharmed.

The boat struck a bridge while Lorraine Villani was at the helm. The family later successfully sued the company that built the bridge, after it was found to not have been properly illuminated, for $120,000 in 1984.

Online records show that the Villani family owns a range of properties in the Grand Island-area.