The driver of the car involved in a
fatal rollover crash in Boulder Canyon on Aug. 4 is facing vehicular homicide and vehicular assault charges after one of the passengers claimed the driver wrecked the car on purpose to try and kill two of his riders.
Kelley Wiggins, 37, was arrested on Saturday night on suspicion of vehicular homicide, vehicular assault and reckless driving, according to Boulder County Jail records.
Wiggins, of Boulder, remains in custody and is scheduled for a first appearance and setting of bond today at the Boulder County Jail.
According to an arrest affidavit, Wiggins was the driver of a Pontiac Firebird that crashed near mile marker 31 of Boulder Canyon Drive after he failed to negotiate a left-hand curve, struck a tree and rolled the car.
A female passenger -- identified as Alexus Valentin, 21, of Boulder -- was killed when she was ejected from the car, and four other people - including Wiggins - were hospitalized.
Investigators say Wiggins was traveling at about 90 mph when the crash occurred, and one witness driving up the canyon in a separate car said she remembered the vehicle passing her at a high rate of speed.
In a report made to Boulder police on Aug. 17, one of the people in the car at the time said that during a harassment and domestic violence incident that happened the day before, Wiggins told her that he killed Valentin on purpose and was also trying to kill the man in the front seat of the car at the time of the crash, Ryan Hohlt, of Boulder, according to the affidavit. Hohlt is the registered owner of the Pontiac Wiggins was driving.
The arrest affidavit did not go into the relationship between Wiggins and Hohlt and Valentin or a motive for possibly wanting them dead.
While investigators said they were
looking into the possibility of drugs or alcohol being involved in the crash, investigators said they could not perform impairment tests on scene because Wiggins had suffered life-threatening injuries.
A passenger said that Wiggins was the designated driver that day and that they had planned on just driving up and down the canyon. The passenger also said Wiggins said while he was driving the car that he, "wanted to see what it could do."
Wiggins was released from Boulder Community Health on Saturday just before he was taken into custody.
