PROVO — An Orem man has been arrested after police say a car he was driving was found crashed in Provo Canyon with a deceased woman inside.
Zachary Alan Ingalls, 31, was booked into the Utah County Jail on Thursday for investigation of automobile homicide.
On Aug. 1, police responded to a report of a crash in Provo Canyon. Ingalls had checked into a local hospital and said his car rolled off Kyhv Peak Road, and that another person was still in the vehicle, according to Provo police. Officers located the vehicle and found Kortnie Benson Barajas dead inside.
A warrant was obtained for Ingalls and his urine "tested positive for THC, opiates and metabolized alcohol. Zachary's blood was positive for THC, the metabolite for THC, and morphine," according to a police booking affidavit.
Police say this is the second time Ingalls has been involved in a crash that caused serious injury while he was driving with THC in his system.
In 2022, Ingalls was driving his Corvette between 90 mph and 100 mph on Foothill Drive in Provo in a 25-mph zone when he attempted to pass another car and clipped the other vehicle's driver-side mirror and front fender. Ingalls' vehicle went airborne and rolled down an embankment, causing life-threatening injuries to a 25-year-old woman in the passenger seat.
He was convicted in that case of negligently operating a vehicle, causing serious injury, a third-degree felony. He was sentenced to a term of zero to five years in the Utah State Prison.
Most recently, he was charged in March with DUI, a third-degree felony, in 4th District Court. His next scheduled court appearance in that case is Oct. 8.
