An Oregon man who was allegedly high on drugs when he crashed head-on into the car of a pregnant teen in 2010 is now facing a first-degree manslaughter charge, PEOPLE confirms.
Jack Dean Whiteaker, 61, was indicted by a Multnomah County grand jury last week, four months after Cayla Wilson died.
Wilson suffered major brain damage in the crash and remained in a coma until her death at age 27 on March 30. Her unborn baby was not harmed and was born a month after the crash.
Whiteaker was convicted in March of 2016 of assault in the second degree, DWI, and reckless driving. He is currently serving an 11-year sentence in Snake River Correctional Institution near Ontario.
Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson Brent Weisberg says that Whiteaker is facing up to a 30-year prison sentence if a judge concludes that he is a “dangerous offender.”
Weisberg says Whiteaker’s criminal record — which includes an arrest for heroin possession — dates back more than 35 years.
According to the Portland Oregonian, Wilson, who was then 19 and five months pregnant, was driving to a job interview for cleaning houses on April 15, 2010, when Whiteaker veered across the centerline in his Jeep and slammed head-on into her car.
At the time of the crash, Whiteaker appeared to “officers to be confused, slurring his speech and had bloodshot eyes,” Weisberg says.
Weisberg says police noticed “track marks” on at least one of Whiteaker’s arms and believed he was “under the influence of a drug, likely heroin.”
Whiteaker denied using the drug.
Wilson’s daughter, JaiKyla Wilson, was born five weeks later and is now being raised by Wilson’s parents, the Oregonian reports.
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Wilson’s parents sued the city alleging that Whiteaker’s probation officer and a police officer that dealt with him hours before the crash should have detained him. A jury awarded them $9.3 million which the family said would be used to take care of their daughter and granddaughter, KOIN reports.
Wilson died in March after she developed an infection and suffered seizures, according to the Oregonian.
No court date has been set for Whiteaker. Nor has there been a defense attorney assigned yet to Whiteaker’s case, says Weisberg.
