Bail set at $250,000 for Onalaska woman accused of delivering fentanyl before crash that killed two people

By Emily Fitzgerald / [email protected]

Bail has been set at $250,000 for an Onalaska woman accused of giving fentanyl to three people in May who crashed their car after taking the substance. Two of them died in the crash.

Rhonda Latane Jett, 53, was charged with one count of manslaughter with the use of a narcotic and two counts of delivery of a narcotic on Sept. 20 in Lewis County Superior Court following an investigation into the crash. According to the Lewis County Sheriff's Office, the crash was reported at approximately 12:09 p.m. on May 9 in the 600 block of Gore Road.

The driver and a passenger, since identified as 52-year-old Edward Halsten and 64-year-old Dany Wood, were both pronounced dead at the scene. A third passenger in the vehicle, identified as 48-year-old Rebecca Allison, was flown by helicopter to a Vancouver hospital with critical injuries, according to court documents and previous Chronicle reporting.

The three people crashed shortly after leaving a home in the 100 block of Konkova Drive, according to charging documents filed Sept. 20 in Lewis County Superior Court.

They reportedly left the property about five minutes before another person called 911 to request emergency assistance for a woman suffering from an overdose. The woman was later identified as Jett.

According to witnesses, Jett spoke to the three people involved in the accident outside her home and “seemed perfectly fine” until she collapsed about five minutes after the people left. A witness began searching Jett's home for Narcan, a drug used to treat overdoses, and found “a plate with a rolled up dollar bill on it, as if she had just snorted a substance,” according to court documents.

Jett was eventually taken to Providence Centralia Hospital, where hospital staff reportedly found a package of suspected fentanyl in her bra. The Washington State Patrol Crime Lab has since confirmed that the substance was fentanyl.

When later questioned by investigators about the incident, Jett allegedly said she found the baggie in a medicine bottle while lending her neighbor a scale and pulled it out when Halsten, Wood and Allison walked by. Jett allegedly said they all believed the substance was cocaine and ingested it.

While officers and medical personnel were still in the 600 block of Gore Road responding to the overdose on May 9, officers received a report of the fatal collision on Gore Road.

An officer noted that the accident scene was “just minutes from Konkova Drive.”

According to court documents, officers later confirmed that the three people in the vehicle were the same people who had taken the fentanyl in Jett's apartment and left the house minutes before the accident.

A witness reported seeing the couple's truck drive past at high speed and swerve before going off the road and hitting the trees.

The truck, a red Chevrolet 3500, was found against a tree in a ditch facing east on the south side of the road, according to court documents. It had sustained “severe front end damage,” and an officer noted that “the entire front of the vehicle was dented.”

None of the three occupants were reportedly wearing seat belts at the time of the accident, “and all three appeared to have violently collided with the dashboard and/or windshield during the impact,” court documents say.

Allison was given Narcan and flown by helicopter to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where she was treated for a broken femur and other injuries.

The Lewis County Coroner's Office has since determined that Halsten's death was due to “acute fentanyl and methamphetamine intoxication,” with “blunt force trauma to the head and chest (a) contributing factor.” The Coroner's Office determined that Woods' cause of death was “multiple blunt force trauma to the head, chest and left leg,” according to court documents.

The Lewis County Superior Court issued a no-bail warrant for Jett's arrest on Sept. 19 after she allegedly failed to report to the Lewis County Jail to serve her sentence in another theft case.

After the court issued the warrant, officials reportedly learned that Jett planned to flee to Texas, so the Lewis County District Attorney's Office then sought a $250,000 arrest warrant in connection with the controlled drug-related homicide.

However, Jett was arrested on a warrant at approximately 6:20 p.m. on September 19 and booked into the Lewis County Jail without a warrant being issued.

Jett's preliminary hearing in the drug-related murder case took place on September 20, when Lewis County Superior Court Judge Joely Yeager granted the prosecution's request and set Jett's bail at $250,000.

“The court is incredibly concerned about the allegations,” Yeager said, adding that people who take controlled substances and drive on public roads pose a significant risk to public safety.

The arraignment is scheduled for Thursday, September 26.

Jett is also being held without bail in connection with the unrelated theft case and therefore cannot be released until that case is resolved.