Man charged with homicide with fatal crash on BYU campus

Nearly two years to the date of a fatal auto-pedestrian crash, a 29-year-old Provo man has been charged with homicide for allegedly killing a pedestrian and texting while driving on the Brigham Young University campus.

Cade Myles Krueger was charged with one count of criminally negligent homicide, a class A misdemeanor, and text messaging or emailing while driving, a class C misdemeanor, according to charging documents filed Monday in 4th District Court.

BYU police allege that Krueger was driving on the college campus about 8 p.m. Sept. 19, 2010, when he struck two pedestrians in a crosswalk, according to a probable cause statement. The crash killed Jessica Raylene Wilson, 28. Her friend was seriously injured.

Officers at the time reported that Krueger said he was driving his Nissan Altima west toward the intersection with a green light when he heard another driver honk and he looked away from the road. When he looked back, he said the two women were in the crosswalk in front of him.

But police said they reviewed Krueger's phone records, his testimony and some surveillance video and determined that he was both sending and receiving messages while he was driving and immediately before he struck the pedestrians.

Deputy Utah County Attorney Tim Taylor said his office recently rescreened the case and determined that charges are appropriate in Wilson's death.

However, he said prosecutors are not seeking to charge Krueger under the state's texting while driving law passed in 2009 because they would have had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he was texting at the exact time the crash happened, which is extremely difficult.

He said prosecutors believe that Krueger was negligent in causing the crash and that he was definitely texting while behind the wheel, which is why he's facing the two separate charges.

He said authorities have informed Wilson's family that they've filed charges and that Wilson's family is happy the case is moving forward.

jstecklein@sltrib.com

Twitter @sltribjanelle