‘So much rage’: Arroyo Grande woman intentionally caused deadly head-on crash, officers testify
A series of crashes caused by an allegedly intoxicated and suicidal driver with a child in the car ended in a deadly wrong-way crash on Hwy. 227 that witnesses described as intentional, according to testimony presented in court this week.
Noting the intensity of the crash, in which the SUV came to rest on its roof, a San Luis Obispo Superior Court judge said on Tuesday it was “a miracle” that the driver’s 18-month-old daughter was not physically injured before she ordered the young woman to stand trial.
Chelsea AnnMarie Stiles of Arroyo Grande is charged with murder, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, assault with a deadly weapon, willful cruelty to a child, and DUI-related charges for the series of crashes on and around Hwy. 227 in December 2019 that ended in the death of Terry Tilton of San Luis Obispo, who was driving in the opposite direction.
Stiles is also facing animal cruelty charges after one of two dogs ejected from the SUV was euthanized. A bag containing approximately 2.5 grams of cocaine was also allegedly found in her belongings.
Stiles, who suffered moderate injuries in the crash and required several days’ hospitalization, appeared at a preliminary hearing this week.
If convicted of the most serious charges against her, the 26-year-old could spend up to life in state prison.
Witnesses say crash was intentional
Stiles was in court Monday and Tuesday for a preliminary hearing in which prosecutors presented evidence in the form of witness testimony before a judge, who decides whether probable cause exists to proceed toward trial on each criminal charge.
Sitting in a wheelchair with her face covered in a jail-issued cloth mask, Stiles listened quietly throughout the hearing, occasionally speaking softly into the ear of her attorney, Ilan Funke-Bilu.
According to testimony, at about 5:50 p.m. on Dec. 1, 2019, Stiles cut short her 18-month-old daughter’s scheduled visitation with the biological father, with whom Stiles had ended a two-year relationship just a month prior.
CHP officers testified that Stiles strapped her daughter in a child seat in Stiles’ 2005 GMC Yukon and drove off at a high rate of speed out of the father’s neighborhood near Carpenter Canyon Road in unincorporated southern San Luis Obispo County.
The father told investigators that Stiles’ strange and aggressive behavior led him to believe she was on drugs, and said that text messages between the two caused him to fear for his daughter’s safety, according to testimony.
With her daughter and the two dogs in the SUV, Stiles allegedly twice purposefully rear-ended a Ford Pilot carrying two people, running them off the road near Highway 227 and causing them to call 911. They were not seriously injured.
Witnesses reported Stiles’ Yukon speeding and driving erratically down Highway 227 at approximately 70 mph. Just south of Patchett Road, they said, Stiles crossed the double-yellow lines into the southbound lane and into the path of a Honda Ridgeline, driven by Tilton.
Though witnesses reported that the SUV had plenty of time to correct back into the northbound lane, the two vehicles collided head-on with the Ridgeline applying emergency braking approximately 1.5 seconds before the crash.
When witnesses were pulling Stiles and her child from the car, one of the alleged victims from the rear-ended car who had caught up to the crash scene asked Stiles if she was the one who hit her car on purpose. Stiles, who the witness described to a CHP officer as “distant,” replied yes, CHP Officer Brock Veillette said on the stand.
“(The witness) said she didn’t know how such a small woman could have so much rage,” Veillette testified Monday.
Driver told officer she ‘wanted to end it all’
CHP Officer Trevor Ashton testified Tuesday that he responded to the wrong-way crash scene to find the Yukon on its roof and the Ridgeline with its driver-side compartment crushed and Tilton deceased inside.
Photos from the scene presented in court showed various items that were inside the SUV strewn about the highway.
Witnesses who had pulled out the child and Stiles identified her as the driver of the Yukon, Ashton said, and Stiles was “generally incoherent” as she was put into an ambulance.
While Stiles was in a local emergency room, Ashton said he asked her whether she had intentionally crashed her SUV into either of the two vehicles.
“She said yes,” Ashton said. “When I asked why, she said, ‘Let’s go. I’m ready.’”
She also told Ashton she had taken a small amount of cocaine that day and had drunken some rum, though a test did not find any alcohol in her system.
CHP Sgt. Charles Wilson, the supervisor on duty that night, testified Monday afternoon that one of his officers also interviewed Stiles, who told him that her “world was recently turned upside down,” and that “everything (in the crash) happened in a whirlwind.”
Stiles told the officer that she had swerved into the southbound lane unintentionally but admitted she saw the Ridgeline in her path and had an opportunity to get out of the way.
“She said she wanted to end it all, or something along those lines, because it would be all over,” Wilson testified Stiles told his officer.
Two blood draws were performed at the hospital, according to District Attorney’s Office investigator Paul Kelly, who testified that he discussed the results with a toxicology lab technician.
In the first blood draw, taken by hospital staff for medical purposes, results came back negative for drugs and alcohol. The second test — a “forensic draw” specifically for the purpose of examining whether she was under the influence — came back days later consistent with recent cocaine use.
Under cross examination by Funke-Bilu, Kelly said the lab explained the discrepancy in results as due to the first not being treated with a preserving agent and an anti-coagulate. An untreated sample of blood would continue to metabolize the controlled substance, Kelly said, which would provide a false negative.
The second and ”more reliable” blood sample was treated with the agents, as they were to expected to be tested several days later.
Kelly said the toxicology technician reported that the level of cocaine in Stiles’ system at the time of the crash could have led to “very quick, unweighted decisions,” and could cause a driver to be “overreactive” in their actions.
Defendant ‘very high risk,’ denied bail
The defense did not call any witnesses, and neither the prosecution or defense presented any verbal arguments to Superior Court Judge Jacquelyn Duffy at the conclusion of the two-day hearing.
Duffy alluded to a possible defense challenge to the admissibility of Stiles’ incriminating statements made following the crash but said that even without considering those statements, there was enough probable cause to uphold each felony charge against Stiles.
Duffy also denied a defense request to reduce Stiles’ bail, calling her a “very high risk” and noting that it was “a miracle” the child was not physically harmed.
But the judge said she would consider at a later date modifying a restraining order granted to Stiles’ child’s father to allow Stiles to meet virtually with the child while she’s in jail custody.
She’s being held without bail and is due back in court May 13.
