Des Moines Woman Charged With Homicide After Fatal Bondurant Crash

Deanna May, a 55-year-old Des Moines woman, was booked into the Polk County Jail on Wednesday on charges including homicide by vehicle, accused of causing a three-vehicle crash near Bondurant on September 30 that killed a Marshalltown woman and injured three others, KCCI reported.

Investigators say May was driving with a blood-alcohol content of .239 — nearly three times Iowa’s legal limit of .08 — when she failed to stop at a stop sign and entered the intersection of Northeast 56th Street and Northeast 94th Avenue, northwest of Bondurant. The resulting collision left Linda Fristoe, of Marshalltown, dead from her injuries, while three other people were hospitalized.

The September 30 collision

The crash occurred around 4 p.m. on Sept. 30 at the rural intersection, according to the Des Moines Register. May was the driver of a vehicle traveling on NE 56th Street that failed to stop at the posted stop sign before entering NE 94th Avenue, Polk County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Sgt. Brittany Worrall said in a news release cited by the Register. The impact triggered a three-vehicle wreck that sent four people to the hospital, KCCI reported, with Fristoe later succumbing to her injuries.

Search warrants executed at the scene and in the weeks following turned up evidence of alcohol consumption, according to court filings cited by the Des Moines Register. One warrant executed on Sept. 30 found two empty miniature liquor bottles in May’s vehicle, while another executed on Oct. 9 discovered a bottle of vodka, the Register reported.

Des moines woman charged in bondurant crash that killed marshalltown grandmother — Photo: hoodline.com

Three times the legal limit

Investigators found May’s blood-alcohol content measured .239, more than triple the state’s legal threshold for impairment, according to court filings reported by the Des Moines Register and KCCI. That level of intoxication formed the basis for the most serious charge against her: homicide by vehicle while operating under the influence, a Class B felony. Polk County jail records show she also faces two counts of serious injury by vehicle while operating under the influence, both Class D felonies, plus a second-offense operating while under the influence charge classified as an aggravated misdemeanor, and a simple misdemeanor for failure to obey the stop sign and yield right of way, KCCI reported.

May is being held on $37,000 bail for the homicide, serious injury and second-offense OWI charges, with a separate $287.88 bail set for the traffic violation, according to her Polk County Jail inmate profile cited by the Des Moines Register. No court dates have been scheduled as of Wednesday afternoon.

A second death at the same intersection

The September crash was not the first fatality at that stretch of road this year. On May 3, 19-year-old Samantha Moore of Ankeny was killed when the car she was riding in collided with a dump truck at the same intersection of NE 56th Street and NE 94th Avenue, according to KCCI’s earlier reporting and the Des Moines Register. WHO 13 also reported that Moore died at the intersection and that two people have died there since May.

In response, Polk County has brought in a consultant to carry out a comprehensive traffic safety study of the NE 94th Avenue and NE 56th Street corridors, WHO 13 reported. The county’s study will examine crash history, traffic volumes and vehicle speeds, with officials weighing an all-way stop, a traffic signal or a roundabout to improve safety. The county has already implemented safety upgrades to the signs at the intersection, with preliminary recommendations due in about two weeks and a full report expected in roughly 10 weeks, according to the earlier coverage.

Where the case stands

As of Wednesday, the three other people injured in the September 30 crash had not been publicly identified. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office notes that an arrest record is not an indication of guilt, a standard disclaimer that applies to jail bookings generally. The Polk County Attorney’s Office says homicide or serious injury by vehicle charges apply when a person unintentionally causes another’s death while driving intoxicated, recklessly, or while drag racing — a general description of the charge category, not a finding specific to this case.

May remains in custody at the Polk County Jail while the investigation and prosecution move forward, with the intersection itself now under scrutiny for the second time in six months.

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