A 38-year-old Auburn woman was arrested Sunday morning, April 27, 2025 for investigation of Vehicular Homicide after a crash that killed her 12-year-old son, according to the King County Sheriff’s Office.
Police said that the female suspect was driving westbound on SE 416th Street in Enumclaw around 1:43 a.m. in her 2018 Mercedes.
“The weight of the evidence shows (the suspect) had been driving her 2018 Mercedes westbound on SE 416th Street,” probable cause documents said. “Tire marks then indicated that the vehicle enter(ed) into a yaw slide. The vehicle slid across SE 416th Street where it impacted the ditch on the south side. The force of the impact caused the vehicle to launch into the air for approximately 150 feet. The vehicle then overturned at least once, before coming to rest about 700 feet from where it originally left the roadway just west of 236th Ave SE.”
When deputies arrived, they found the suspect performing CPR on her son near the passenger side of the vehicle.
But sadly, despite life-saving efforts by deputies and medics, her son was pronounced dead at the scene at 2:11 a.m.
Investigators said no one in the vehicle was wearing a seatbelt.
An empty vodka bottle was found in the debris field, and police claim that the suspect smelled of alcohol and admitted to drinking earlier that evening.
The suspect told deputies she was not driving and claimed the driver was a girlfriend of her son’s, but refused to provide a name, according to the probable cause statement . Detectives said physical evidence — including the vehicle’s seat position — indicated the suspect had been the driver.
She was taken to Harborview Medical Center for treatment, where a blood draw was conducted under a search warrant. The results are pending .
The suspect was later booked into the King County Jail for investigation of vehicular homicide.
At a first appearance hearing on Monday, prosecutors said that the suspect was medically unavailable for court, so bail was not addressed.
Prosecutors emphasized that a first appearance following an arrest is not the same as a formal charging decision, which requires a higher burden of proof. It is routine for police investigators to send a case referral to prosecutors in the days after a first appearance.
As of Monday, King County prosecutors had not yet received a felony case referral from the Sheriff’s Office but said they anticipate receiving it soon for a formal charging decision.
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