A 22-year-old Utah woman has been charged in a suspected DUI crash that killed a schoolteacher and her teenage son early Sunday.
Kesley Pope, of Pleasant Grove, is accused of crashing into the mother and son’s car on the shoulder of Interstate 15 in Orem. She was charged in 4th District Court with two counts of automobile homicide, second-degree felonies.
According to the Utah Highway Patrol, 16-year-old Tobias “Toby” A. Dow was driving with his mother, 43-year-old Season M. Dow, as a passenger when their car ran out of gas shortly after midnight Sunday. Dash cam video from the car showed Toby Dow pull onto the shoulder near the 800 North off-ramp on I-15 in Orem, turn on the car’s emergency blinkers and get out of the car, authorities said.
At that point, a pickup truck driven by Pope smashed into the car, killing Season Dow — a third-grade teacher at Brookhaven Elementary in Eagle Mountain — and critically injuring Tony Dow. He was taken to a hospital, where he died on Monday.
Pope was not injured in the crash, authorities said. According to charging documents, when troopers spoke with Pope, they could smell alcohol. When they searched her truck, they found a marijuana pipe “with residue inside.”
Pope failed field sobriety tests, according to the UHP, and a device used to test blood alcohol level indicated that she had a blood alcohol level of 0.10, twice the legal limit in Utah. The results of a blood test are pending.
A GoFundMe page was set up to help cover funeral expenses for Season and Toby Dow, who was a sophomore at Timpview High School in Provo, and to benefit Season Dow’s other two children. As of Thursday afternoon, it had raised more than $39,500 of its $40,000 goal.
According to the GoFundMe page, Season Dow was “living her dream” as a teacher. She was an “amazing mom, friend and confidant” who was “always very thoughtful of others and thinking positively.”
“She was a great example of persistence and working for what you wanted,” the page states. “She had an amazing relationship with her children and they were her best friends. She sang their praises often and loved spending her free time with them.”
