Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
UTAH STATE PRISON — When she was sentenced to prison in 2013, Janeen Lundberg declined to speak.
This week, during her parole hearing at the Utah State Prison, she said she regretted not addressing Natalie Amalathithada in court that day.
Lundberg was convicted of hitting Amalathithada and her 6-year-old daughter, Ambrosia, when the two were in a crosswalk. Ambrosia was killed.
"I should have talked to that family face to face, and that was a mistake," Lundberg said in a recording of her hearing.
Lundberg also noted that she wished Natalie Amalathithada, who did not attend Tuesday's hearing, was there.
"I really wanted to talk to her and apologize," she said.
On March 14, 2012, Amalathithada was walking her daughter home from school and crossed State Street near 1500 South in a crosswalk. Lundberg had taken several types of prescription medication and had just stopped at a convenience store for coffee and No-Doze pills to wake up. As she approached the crosswalk, she swerved around two other cars that had stopped or were slowing, and hit Ambrosia and her mother.
"I was on a lot of medication, but I felt well enough to drive. And I felt I was OK enough to drive," she said during Tuesday's parole hearing. "When I left the house I felt fine and I thought I was OK to drive, or I wouldn't have gotten behind the wheel.
"I couldn't stop fast enough and I didn't see them," she later continued. "I just didn't see the pedestrians in time to stop. And I tried to stop, but I couldn't. And it absolutely makes me sick."
Amalathithada was severely injured but survived. Lundberg, now 50, was convicted of negligent homicide and driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, both third-degree felonies, and sentenced to up to five years in prison on both charges. A judge ordered the sentences to run concurrently.
"I took that little girl's life. And I have been sick over it," she said. "I've been honestly devastated over that and I don't know if I can forgive myself. I love kids. And that little girl was special to people.
"I don't know if I'll ever drive again because emotionally it's affected me too much," she continued. "I took that baby from her and I know it was her whole world, I know it was."
Lundberg rambled during much of her parole hearing, at times giving confusing answers or not answering board member Chyleen Arbon's questions directly. She spent an extended period of time disputing the results of an earlier psychological evaluation and then made excuses for why she failed to show up for a new evaluation prior to her parole hearing.
"There's a lot of things that are just incorrect here," she said of the evaluation prepared by a doctor prior to the hearing.
Lundberg also claimed she was assaulted by a former FBI agent who was now incarcerated himself, but continued to cause problems for her. Because of that, she said she didn't want a psychological evaluation conducted by the FBI.
"It's a conflict of interest because he's got a bunch of baby mamas in (the cell block) with me. They've all written letters to you that are very inappropriate … letters talking about the accident," she said.
"We haven't received any letters," Arbon informed her.
Lundberg later claimed she had been working for the FBI while in prison and hoped to continue working for them when she was released from prison. When Arbon asked what she did for the FBI, Lundberg only replied, "I don't want to really go into detail."
She claimed she was in contact with Jack Setzer. On Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the FBI said there is no one in their office with that name.
Since being incarcerated, Lundberg and her former husband were charged federally with Social Security fraud. She continued to receive disability pay while in prison, even though she was supposed to inform the government that she was incarcerated, according to court documents.
"I didn't do it intentionally," she told Arbon.
Lundberg indicated Tuesday that her federal case was still pending. But the court docket shows that on May 20, Lundberg was found competent to stand trial and pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor crime. She is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 17.
Arbon said she wanted Lundberg to have another psychological evaluation before deciding parole. If Lundberg serves her full time, she would be released from the Utah State Prison in October of 2017.
