Jury convicts Oak Harbor woman in fatal wreck that killed three

COUPEVILLE — An Island County jury deliberated for about two hours Tuesday before convicting an Oak Harbor woman of multiple felony charges in connection with a crash that killed three people, including a soon-to-be father.

Jordyn Weichert faces up to 8 1/2 years in prison for the Sept. 3 crash on Highway 20. She is scheduled to be sentenced in June.

Codefendant Samantha Bowling faces up to five years in prison. She pleaded guilty April 25 to three counts of vehicular homicide and one count of possession of heroin with intent to distribute in an unrelated case. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss a vehicular assault charge as part of the plea. Bowling agreed to a sentence above the standard range. She also agreed to testify during Weichert’s trial.

Prosecutors allege that both women were steering Weichert’s Chevrolet Blazer when they lost control and slammed into an oncoming station wagon on Highway 20, south of the Monkey Hill Road intersection. The crash killed the station wagon’s driver, Brian Wood of Vancouver, B.C., and injured his pregnant wife. Also killed in the crash were Francis Malloy and Jacob Quistorf, both backseat passengers in Weichert’s sport utility vehicle.

Weichert, then 20, allegedly told Washington State Patrol troopers she was driving northbound on Highway 20 when she decided to remove her sweater. She asked Bowling, 22, to steer. Weichert said that Bowling let go before Weichert put her hands back on the steering wheel. The Blazer began to drift off the road and both women grabbed the steering wheel and jerked it to the left, according to court documents. The Blazer crossed into the oncoming lane and collided with the Woods’ station wagon.

Erin Wood later reported that in the moments before the crash her husband slammed on the brakes and jerked the wheel to the right to avoid a head-on crash. He likely saved his wife’s life and that of his unborn son.

Brian Wood, 33, died at the scene. Erin Wood has since given birth to the couple’s only child, who was unharmed in the accident.

Malloy was ejected from the Blazer and died at the scene. Quistorf died in the back of the Blazer. Both were 26 and from Oak Harbor.

Weichert told investigators she’d smoked marijuana earlier that day. Investigators found heroin, marijuana, cocaine and packaging materials in the Blazer. Quistorf had a handgun in his pocket.

Bowling, who suffered a fractured pelvis, was allowed to remain free pending trial to attend medical appointments. She was arrested on Halloween after she sold heroin to a confidential informant from her Oak Harbor apartment.

Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.