Estimated read time: 2-3 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 Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information.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.
CENTERVILLE — A woman is dead after a pair of Davis County carjackings led to a crash late Monday afternoon, police said.
The initial carjacking occurred in Kaysville near the intersection of Fairfield and Mutton Hollow roads just after 4:30 p.m., said Kaysville Police Lt. Kenton Pies.
About 15 to 20 minutes later, a Unified police officer driving to work noticed the stolen Mazda 6 stalled on I-15 in Centerville, Pies said. The officer didn't know the vehicle was stolen, but stopped to assist a man and woman standing outside of the car, according to the lieutenant.
After the man told him the vehicle had ran out of gas, the officer contacted Davis County dispatchers, sensing something suspicious. Just as the officer was being told that the Mazda had been forcibly taken a short time earlier, the man allegedly made his way to a Volkswagen that had stopped.
The man was able to climb into the Volkswagen despite the driver's efforts to drive away and escape him, according to Pies. After the man was inside the Volkswagen, the driver slowed the vehicle down and jumped out, he said.
A short time later, the southbound Volkswagen left I-15 and broadsided an eastbound passenger car on the exit ramp's intersection with Parrish Lane, killing a woman, Pies said. The alleged carjacker was injured and taken to a nearby hospital in unknown condition. Nobody else was inside either vehicle when the wreck occurred.
"No police vehicles were in pursuit of the suspect at the time of this crash," Pies said as part a prepared statement.
The woman, who officers initially believed had jumped out of the Mazda on the freeway shortly after the original carjacking, was taken into police custody for questioning and later arrested, Pies said.
The motive for the alleged carjackings remained under investigation Monday night. Kaysville police are spearheading the investigation into the incidents with the help of Centerville police and the Utah Highway Patrol.
Parrish Lane was closed to traffic until almost 9 p.m.
The names of the alleged carjackers and deceased woman were not immediately released.
