STANWOOD — A Stanwood woman was in her garden on the afternoon of April 10, 2020 when she heard an Audi convertible zoom by on 80th Avenue NW.
It reportedly sounded to her like the convertible bottomed out at the end of a decline in the two-lane road near Stanwood. The woman reported hearing squealing tires and a “horrendous crunch.”
She called 911.
The Audi had run into a tree, reportedly bending the car into a “C” shape. The collision tore the engine out of the car.
Ilya Hrudzko, now 27, sat on the grass outside the passenger side of the car, witnesses told police. He reportedly told them he had been ejected from the vehicle during the crash. He was mostly uninjured, medics later reported.
Ceanna Diller was still tangled in her seatbelt. She had no pulse. She was 20.
An autopsy found Diller suffered non-survivable injuries to her spine and skull, according to the Snohomish County Medical Examiner.
Hrudzko was charged in October with vehicular homicide in Snohomish County Superior Court. He was arraigned Wednesday.
Hrudzko told police at the time he swerved the Audi to avoid an animal but lost control, according to the charges.
He also reportedly told authorities he’d had four beers. A deputy observed he had glassy eyes. He reported driving 45 to 50 miles per hour, according to court papers.
A collision investigator estimated Hrudzko was going between 90 and 102 miles per hour. The speed limit there is 35.
Hrudzko was taken to the Skagit Valley Hospital in Mount Vernon. At 8:30 p.m., about five hours after the crash, a sample of his blood was taken. According to charging papers, it showed a blood-alcohol level of 0.099, above the legal limit.
The collision investigator found gouges in the pavement at the dip of the road about 745 feet south of the tree, according to court documents. This was likely when the Audi’s undercarriage was hitting the pavement, which the Stanwood woman heard from her garden.
The investigator found tire marks leading north from the gouges. They went into the other lane, “indicating that the driver was struggling to control the Audi,” deputy prosecutor Tobin Darrow wrote in the charges.
There were then a series of divots in the field between the road and the tree. The investigator concluded the Audi was “skipping” across the field as it rolled over a number of times, according to court records. The convertible’s roof was ripped off.
Prosecutors didn’t object to Hrudzko staying out of police custody under the conditions he show up to his court dates, not possess or consume alcohol, and not drive unless insured and licensed. Summons for court appearances list addresses for Hrudzko in Mountlake Terrace, Mount Vernon and Lake Stevens.
The suspect has no felony convictions, court papers show. He had one misdemeanor malicious mischief mark on his record from Skagit County in 2018.
Jake Goldstein-Street: 425-339-3439; jake.goldstein-street@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @GoldsteinStreet.
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