A 19-year-old is facing more than 23 years in prison after pleading guilty in King County Superior Court on Thursday to speeding through a red light and T-boning a minivan, killing a woman and three children, in unincorporated King County last March.
Chase Daniel Jones was 18 when he crashed his Audi A4 into Andrea Hudson’s Toyota Sienna on March 19, 2024. The collision killed Hudson immediately, along with three of her passengers, all of whom were her close friend’s children: Boyd “Buster” Brown, 12; and sisters Matilda Wilcoxson, 13, and Eloise Wilcoxson, 12. Two of Hudson’s children, then 12 and 14, were also severely injured in the crash, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Jones pleaded guilty to four counts of vehicular homicide and two counts of vehicular assault in the fatal collision, according to court records filed on Thursday. Under state guidelines, he faces between 17 ½ and 23 ⅓ years in prison. Jones will remain in custody at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent until his sentencing April 25.
As part of pleading guilty, Jones agreed to use a speed-limiting device on any vehicles he drives in the future that would prevent his car from going 10 mph over any posted speed limit, King County prosecuting attorney’s office spokesperson Casey McNerthney said in a statement Monday.
“Nothing will make up for the loss of (the victims),” McNerthney’s statement said, “… or the grief their loved ones and their community feels.”
Witnesses reported seeing Jones weaving in and out of traffic while speeding before the crash in the unincorporated community of Fairwood. He was driving 112 mph and made no attempt to brake when he sped through a red light and into the intersection of Southeast 192nd Street and 140th Avenue Southeast, where the posted speed limit is 40 mph, according to the affidavit.
The Audi, which Jones had bought one month before the crash, was the third car he had totaled in a crash within 11 months. Jones’ speed was a factor in all three collisions, prosecutors wrote. Police did not cite Jones in the first two crashes, King County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Hannah Godwin said by email Thursday.
Washington legislators are considering House Bill 1596, also called the Andrea Smith Hudson Act, which would mandate installing speed-limiting devices in the cars of anyone applying for a restricted driver’s license after having their license suspended for accumulating too many speeding tickets.
The Senate Transportation Committee is scheduled to discuss the bill during an executive session Friday.
Jones’ attorney did not immediately respond to a phone call and email Thursday.