A 24-year-old woman accused of driving recklessly and causing a pair of crashes that left three dead in Long Beach now faces two counts of murder for a Jan. 4 crash in addition to a voluntary manslaughter charge for a previous collision, according to court records.
Ahkeyajahnique Owens of Long Beach was taken into custody on Jan. 6 after she turned herself in to police for a collision that killed a bicyclist in October and faces voluntary manslaughter in that case.
Prosecutors have since filed four additional charges against Owens, court records show, for the Jan. 4 crash: two counts of murder and single counts of reckless driving causing specified injury and hit-and-run driving resulting in death or serious bodily injury.
Owens remained at the scene following the Oct. 6 crash, on Fourth Street near Bonito Avenue, and was arrested on suspicion of reckless driving and released from custody on her own recognizance, authorities and inmate records show. The victim in that crash, 35-year-old Raul Augustin Gallopa, died in a hospital two weeks later.
While out of custody, Owens was accused of speeding and running a red light at Sixth Street and Atlantic Avenue and hitting two vehicles on Jan. 4. Two backseat passengers in a Nissan sedan – Bobbi Smith, 24, of Buena Park and Gilberto Lopez, 21, of Midway City – died at the scene, police said.
The driver and front-seat passenger in the sedan, and the driver of a Kia Soul also involved in the crash, were hospitalized, police said.
Owens, allegedly driving an orange BMW sedan, ran from the scene following that crash, authorities said.
She was being held in jail on $400,000 bail, according to inmate records. Her next court appearance was scheduled for March 16.