LEBANON, Ore. — A Linn County sheriff’s detective says a teenage driver was suicidal and talking on a cell phone when she intentionally caused a crash that killed a 40-year-old woman in April.
The Albany Democrat-Herald reports that 17-year-old Kathryn Schilz was indicted Friday on a charge of first-degree manslaughter. A detective wrote in charging papers that the girl told investigators: “I did it on purpose. I wanted to die.”
She reportedly said she had suffered from depression, was distraught over an argument with her boyfriend and that she was talking to her mother on a cell phone April 9 when she sped up to about 95 mph and swerved into a car driven by Tonya Thompson, of Lebanon. Thompson died at the scene.
During a court hearing Friday, Schilz appeared via teleconference from the Linn-Benton juvenile detention facility, and she wore a brace on her right leg. A judge set bail at $250,000.
