A 29-year-old woman is in custody for allegedly fleeing from Milton police in a stolen car while under the influence of drugs or alcohol and crashing a short time later, decapitating a passenger in the backseat.
Maegan Elizabeth Wentz was charged Friday in Pierce County Superior Court with vehicular homicide, vehicular assault, unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle and attempting to elude a pursuing police officer.
She is accused in the March 6 death of Jayson Owens, 49, according to charging documents. At least two other people were in the car Wentz is accused of driving when the crash occurred on Milton Way, and Wentz reportedly suffered a head injury.
A plea of not guilty was entered on Wentz’s behalf at arraignment Friday afternoon. Commissioner Pro Tempore Meagan Foley set bail at $500,000. Court records show that Wentz does not have any prior felony convictions. She was convicted in Pierce County of misdemeanor theft in 2015 and taking a vehicle without permission in 2016.
Another passenger who was taken to a hospital told police she and the other occupants were drinking alcohol and smoking fentanyl, meth and Xanax just before they fled from police, according to the probable cause document. Records state Wentz claimed she wasn’t driving and said she had swallowed three fentanyl pills.
After Wentz was taken to a hospital, she allegedly told a nurse she took five to six of the pills before driving, then said she was a passenger. The results of toxicology tests are pending.
Here’s how charging documents describe the incident:
A Milton Police Department officer was driving his patrol car when he noticed a white 2005 Ford sedan pass him going east on Milton Way at about 9:50 p.m. A records check showed the car had been stolen in Tacoma on Feb. 28.
The officer turned around and found the Ford sedan parked in front of a convenience store in Edgewood near the intersection of Meridian Avenue East and Milton Way. He got out of his patrol car and told the vehicle’s occupants to shut off the car. Records state the officer noticed at least four people inside it, and a woman with dirty blonde hair was in the driver’s seat, later identified as Wentz.
Wentz allegedly ignored the officer’s commands, backed out of the parking stall and drove west onto Milton Way. The police officer followed the Ford through an intersection but soon discontinued the pursuit because the driver was going at an extremely high speed and driving recklessly, according to the probable cause document.
At 9:55 p.m., another officer advised over radio that the Ford had crashed into a guardrail at a curve in the road in the 1700 block of Milton Way. Police arrived a short time later, and records state three people tried to run away from the wreck. One reportedly left the scene.
Wentz and another female passenger were detained on the driver’s side of the Ford, which had heavy damage to its front end and passenger’s side. Two men were still in the backseat of the car. One was stuck due to injuries, and records state the other, Owens, was obviously deceased.
At least three other people were in the 2005 Ford Sedan that Wentz is accused of driving the evening of Wednesday, March 6. According to charging documents, she drove off after a Milton Police Department officer attempted to stop the vehicle in a convenience store parking lot near the intersection of Meridian Avenue East and Milton Way.
Wentz took off west on Milton Way at an extremely high speed, so police stopped pursuing it, records state.
