FEDERAL WAY, Wash. — Prosecutors say the man responsible for a deadly SR-18 crash that killed three people, including a 4-year-old child, was allegedly involved in a murder less than two weeks prior.
King County prosecutors say Robert Bernard Ousley was fleeing law enforcement at the time of the crash. Washington State Patrol (WSP) troopers said the car was going over 130 mph when it sped past them on SR-167 at around 1 a.m. on June 4.
The trooper says the speeding car lost control, hit a guardrail, rolled over, and then smashed into a pole on SR-18 at the Enchanted Parkway and I-5 on-ramps.
Loved ones say three people died in the SR-18 crash: 4-year-old Lashea Cook, her mother, Jayleen, and 18-year-old Aniya Danielle Wellington.
Prosecutors have now charged Ousley with murder in a case from just days before the crash.
According to court documents, Ousley “specifically targeted the victim to kill due to some perceived notion of retaliation.” Prosecutors say he shot 25-year-old Marcus Pressley at the Chandlers Bay Apartments in Kent.
Pressley was found with nine bullet wounds in his back.
Prosecutors say Ousley threatened eyewitnesses after the shooting that if they told, they would be killed.
They have asked a judge to set bail at $10 million, citing concerns Ousley is a flight risk.
The crash is still under investigation.
Relatives of victims told KIRO 7 they want their loved ones to be remembered.
“They had a name,” said Gail Johnson, Aniya Danielle Wellington’s Mom. “They were loved.”
Wellington’s siblings say she embodied love and left a positive mark on every person she encountered.
Wellington had just started working in a child care center with young kids.
“She loves children, and now she will not get the opportunity to become a mom,” Johnson said. “And that burns me.”
Johnson said she and her daughter would speak on the phone multiple times a day, and that Wellington would always end each call by telling her, “I love you, Mommy.”
“How am I supposed to not hear that anymore?” Johnson said.
The father of four-year-old Lashea Cook told KIRO 7 he will miss her “bright smile.”
“It just brought joy to me. I just knew she was always happy when she was with me,” Timani Cook said about his daughter. “She was making me the best dad I can be.”
Cook said his daughter had a bright future and was just starting to “know a lot.”
“He does not need to see daylight,” Cook said about Ousley. “He needs to suffer and pay for his consequences.”
Ousley is scheduled to appear in court to be arraigned on the murder charge on June 22.
If you’d like to support the victims, you can donate to their GoFundMes here:
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