Woman pleads not guilty in Indiana bus crash that killed three students

ROCHESTER, Indiana -- A northern Indiana woman has entered a preliminary not guilty plea to charges that she struck and killed three children crossing a highway to board a school bus.

Twenty-four-year-old Alyssa Shepherd appeared Thursday morning for her initial hearing before a Fulton County judge. She's charged with three counts of reckless homicide.

RELATED: Twin boys, 6, and 9-year-old sister fatally struck at school bus stop in Rochester, Indiana

Authorities say Shepherd struck four children with her pickup truck Oct. 30 as they crossed a two-lane state highway to board a school bus near Rochester, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of Indianapolis.

She told authorities she didn't realize the bus facing in the opposite direction had stopped.

Six-year-old twin brothers Xzavier and Mason Ingle, and their 9-year-old sister, Alivia Stahl, were killed. An 11-year-old boy was severely injured in the crash.

SEE MORE: Driver charged in deaths of 3 siblings at bus stop said she did not recognize school bus lights

The woman charged in the deaths of three siblings struck and killed at a school bus stop Tuesday morning told police she saw the bus lights, but did not recognize it was a school bus.