By Skylar Smith
Published: October 26, 2009
Categorized in | Campus News, Local News
By Skylar Smith
Daily Titan Staff Writer
Two San Bernardino women were killed Monday when an alleged drunk driver crashed into their Chevy Silverado head-on while driving west in the eastbound lane of the 91 freeway.
Jessica Shekell, 22, has been released on bond as of 6:04 p.m. Dec. 15, 2009. Her pre-trail hearing is set for Feb. 26, 2010. Photo courtesy of the Orange County District Attorney's Office
The driver of the Silverado, Sally Miguel, 44, was driving east bound in the FasTrak Express lane when Jessica Shekell, 21, a Fullerton resident and Cal State Fullerton freshman transfer majoring in sociology, collided head-on with her 2003 Toyota Tundra. Shekell was sent to UCI Medical Center.
Also riding in the Silverado was Patricia Miguel, 30, sister to Sally Miguel, who sat in the passenger seat while nieces Sara Miguel, 11, and Mary Miguel, 15 sat in the backseats. Sally Miguel died on the scene and Patricia died shortly after arriving at the hospital.
The two nieces, Sara who received major injuries, and Mary who received moderate injuries, are currently being held at separate hospitals, one of them being UCI Medical Center.
John Murray, head of media relations at UCI Medical Center, said Shekell is currently in “fair condition” and that one of the Miguel girls is also at the hospital, however because they are both juveniles he cannot say which girl.
The accident occurred at 3:02 a.m. right after a report came in to the California Highway Patrol about a driver going the wrong way at 2:55 a.m. “We had a unit right in that area,” said Officer Denise Quesada. “Our units were there literally almost as the collision occurred.”
“The 911 caller called it in at Imperial Highway,” Quesada said, she added that the officer arrived on the freeway at Kramer Avenue. “Our units were coming to the area when, I don’t know if he actually witnessed or heard it or came upon the aftermath, but he looked over the radio at 3:02 and there was a head-on collision.”
Shekell, who may have had alcohol in her system, was driving west on the eastbound side of the 91 freeway when she collided with Miguel’s truck around Lakeview Ave. According to the California Highway Patrol, the Miguel family was driving back from a night at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park to their home in San Bernardino.
“The passengers of the (Silverado) were not wearing seat belts so therefore they sustained major injuries, but everyone stayed within the vehicle. I don’t believe anyone was ejected,” Quesada said.
Shekell, who graduated from Cabrillo High School in Lompoc Calif., before moving to Fullerton played on the school’s volleyball team. She attended Cuesta College and Fullerton College before transferring to CSUF this semester.
Amanda Murray, a long-time friend from Lompoc said, “We’ve been to a couple of parties together but we always had a designated driver. She is responsible.”
Katie Pendleton, Shekell’s friend since kindergarten, stated that Shekell is familiar with the dangers of reckless driving as two of her high school friends, Brice Fabing and Mikey Terrones, died in a Halloween accident in 2005 when they were speeding and crashed at a dead end.
The CHP are currently investigating Shekell for possibly driving under the influence and depending on the results, the District Attorney can press charges, Quesada said. “Obviously there could be a DUI,” Quesada added. Based on the history and evidence gathered during the investigation process, Shekell could be facing charges such as manslaughter or vehicular manslaughter.
Kaitlin Paiz, Patrick Cowles, and Portia Bode contributed to this article.
Shekell has been charged, find out about her counts here.
Print this post 
765 Responses to “2 dead after head-on collision with CSUF student”
Post a Comment
The Daily Titan wants your comments! Please know that we reserve the right to moderate these.
If you'd like to display your photo, go and get a Gravatar.
Stay connected
- Popular
- Featured
- Comments
- Tags
- Subscribe
- Titan Editorial: Protesting in the modern age
- California prisons release inmates
- Review: Alice in Wonderland
- Thousands protest cuts to public education, march to governor's office
- Gerard Anderson: Family has been a significant part of his success
- Anaheim considered for Comic-Con International
- LA Galaxy set to play at Titan Stadium
- Man arrested, charged with assisting foreign students obtain visas
- CSUF celebrates Arbor Day early
- Salsa dancing classes offered at Titan Gym
- Team Elevate: hip-hop from the soul
- Coyote Hills housing development scaled back
- Fullerton neighborhood hosts gathering with OC politicians
- Native Americans celebrate heritage at CSULB Pow Wow
- Martin T: Apparently the writer of this editorial has no concept of how the occu...
- CSUF: SOLIDARITY WITH THE OCCUPIERS!...
- Jack: You simply don't get it. The fact that you think anyone who participa...
- DUI Victim: I have a question...whose blog is this again? I thought this was a new...
- sue carter: honestly You seem pretty fond of calling people losers. The truth is...
- Tallcan: Wow, with writing like this you'll be sure to get a job at the Times o...
- honestly: Clearly IQ's have dropped significantly on this blog.Sandra plea...
Aaron Thompson Afghanistan Angels ASI Barack Obama baseball Bryce Webster budget cuts California Cal State Fullerton CSU CSUF Dodgers drugs earthquake economy education Facebook fee increases Food Fullerton furloughs H1N1 health care Iraq Jer'Vaughn Johnson jobs Long Beach State March 4 Marijuana Music NBA NFL Obama Orange County parking review Sports Titan Student Union TSU Twitter UC UCLA USC volleyball
Subscribe to Daily Titan updates!
- Subscribe to the Daily Titan by Email
- Subscribe to the Daily Titan RSS Feed
Poll
Loading ...
Students get Text Links online. Need Debt Relief help for student loans? Buy a Memory Foam Mattress for your dorm room. Consider day trading to pay off college loans. Learn how web hosting is integral to setting up your college Web site. Check out the Cal State Fullerton Titan Yearbook Archive. Find a Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney near campus.
Jersey girl- Wow that’s really sad. I don’t support drunk driving in any way shape or form, but it’s not always about being selfish. Botos CLEARLY needs help. Alcoholism is a disease and not enough people get the help they need. Ugh just too sad. Seems like such a waste of life.
honestly – Why are you attacking me also?
I haven’t been looking at the post for a while to thank anyone. I apologize.
Anyone who has defended my family, thank you so much and god bless you.
Clearly IQ’s have dropped significantly on this blog.
Sandra please quote me on how I attacked you. I said you thanked compassionate, in other words (plain english here) you have spoke to this board on several occasions and you never once thanked triple xxx. In other words, he’s too vicious, even for victims to chime in and give him kudos. Seriously, everyone must love a circus atmosphere. The blind leading the blind. You all are a joke.
There are no winners in this whole case. So much pain for all involved. I was attempting to calm triplexxx down off of his insane rants about asking a girl to commit suicide. But if you all wish to defend such scum; then enjoy your shallow lives. Maybe next he’ll call for your friends and family to commit suicide.
When Sandra was angry, she had/has a right. But some fool begging for people to kill themselves is the exact opposite of many of the religions most of you prescribe to. Be careful who you defend…birds of a feather flock together.
honestly
You seem pretty fond of calling people losers.
The truth is you are right. A lot of us here are losers. A lot of us come here because we have lost someone important to us. And that senseless loss makes us feel intense rage when we see selfish drunks kill innocent people. And sometimes we express rage by saying angry outrageous things. So, yes, I really do understand when someone says that Jessica should kill herself. I understand that a lot more than I understand someone attacking Sandra for her spelling.
Do I really think that Jessica should kill herself?
Rather than killing herself, I would much rather see Jessica dedicate her life to making amends and finding redemption. Since Jessica’s supporters seem to express far more arrogance than apology, and since Jessica is home on bail and pleading not-guilty, I don’t really imagine that is the path she will take.
I suspect it is far more likely that she will kill more innocent people on the road after she is released from prison (if not before she is convicted). Unfortunately she has a lot of years on the road ahead of her. If it a choice between her killing herself or killing more innocents…well I think it’s clear who I would pick.
When Jessica pleads guilty and takes responsibility for her actions, then she and her family will have my deepest sympathies.
And one last thing. Since you are so fond of losers documenting their stories, I suggest that you Google: drunk driving memorials.
You will find lots of “losers” there. Cheers.
I have a question…whose blog is this again? I thought this was a news story.
Ridiculous. The genius about all the comments is that it keeps this NEWS STORY up in the ranks in the search engines.
Jessica Shekell. Wrong Way Drunk Driver. Head on Collison With Drunk Driver Kills 2. Drunk Driving. Orange County. MADD.
What other relevant key words can we contribute or….re post? Over and over and over.