SALT LAKE CITY — In August, investigators believed that Manases Vicente Castillo, 34, of Layton, was behind the wheel of a car that slammed into a parked vehicle in Big Cottonwood Canyon, killing a 16-year-old girl and causing fatal injuries to her mother.
But those charges were later dropped. And on Friday, the Salt Lake County Attorney’s Office filed charges against another man who was originally believed to be a passenger in the vehicle.
Juan Sebastian Daza-Monsalve, 31, of Colombia, was charged in 3rd District Court with two counts of automobile homicide, a second-degree felony; DUI, a third-degree felony; and two counts of DUI, a class A misdemeanor.
A no bail warrant was issued Friday for Daza-Monsalave’s arrest, who is believed to have fled to South America after being released from the hospital, according to charging documents.
The charges come less than three weeks after the same charges that had been filed against Castillo, were dismissed on Dec. 23.
On Aug. 17, Sierra Rosalina Chacon was sleeping in the covered bed of a Ford F-250 along with her mother, Brandilee Kussee Chacon, 44, in a designated parking area off the side of Big Cottonwood Road near the Butler Fork Trailhead in the area of 9300 East. The two were having a mother-daughter outing to celebrate Sierra’s 16th birthday.
Just before 3 a.m. a Chevrolet Malibu smashed into their truck while traveling down the canyon at a high rate of speed. The original charging documents stated that the Chevy failed to make a turn and “vaulted” into the truck.
Sierra was ejected from her vehicle and died at the scene. Her mother died on Sept. 17 from “multiple organ failure due to being struck by a motor vehicle,” the charges state.
At the time, police and prosecutors believed that Castillo was driving with three other men in the car. Two of those men later told police that they had been drinking beer and whiskey at one of the men’s apartments when the four decided to take a drive up Big Cottonwood Canyon to see the city lights, according to the charges. The men reached their destination, and then started to drive back down the canyon about 30 minutes later.
Prosecutors say all four men were above the legal blood limit, which was .08% at the time Castillo had a blood alcohol level of 0.14%. according to the charges filed against him. Daza-Monslave, according to new charging documents filed on Friday, had a blood alcohol content of 0.18%.
Initially, two men who claimed to be passengers in the vehicle that caused the accident pointed their fingers at Castillo as being the driver.
But DNA evidence collected from the driver’s side airbag, driver’s side seat belt, driver’s side door and steering wheel, which took several weeks to process, did not match Castillo. It matched Daza-Monsalve, the charges state.
In their motion to drop the charges, prosecutors said the action was needed “in the interests of justice and for evidentiary reasons.”
In a prepared statement, the district attorney’s office said “based upon information we had at the time of filing, we believed that Mr. Castillo was responsible for the accident. Additional information shows that he was not the at-fault driver in this case, but another individual will be charged imminently.”
All four men suffered critical injuries. Two of them were flown by medical helicopter from the crash site to local hospitals.
One man suffered a traumatic brain injury, according to charging documents. Castillo also suffered a head injury that left him “confused from the collision,” the charges state.
Contributing: Matt Rascon