Inset: A’Jena Wynn-Howard (Milwaukee County Jail). Background: The scene of the alleged crash by Wynn-Howard on a road at 102 mph, resulting in a fatality (Google Maps).
In Wisconsin, a 32-year-old woman has been detained for her alleged role in a car collision that claimed the life of one woman and injured three others. Authorities state she was reportedly driving at 102 mph in an area with a speed limit of 35 mph prior to crashing into the back of another vehicle. A’Jena Wynn-Howard was apprehended on Saturday and is charged with first-degree reckless homicide and two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, as per court documents.
The Milwaukee Police Department’s officers responded to 911 calls concerning a multi-vehicle accident on Saturday, May 10, 2025, located in the 4300 block of N 76th Street, according to a criminal complaint reviewed by Law&Crime. A caller reported that three vehicles were involved in the crash and mentioned that “one of them was split in half,” while another caller noted that an individual had been “ejected from one of the vehicles.”
Upon arriving at the scene, first responders said they found that a Chevrolet Traverse and a Jeep Patriot were in the northbound lane of N 76th Street when the Traverse was struck by a speeding 2021 Jeep Wrangler driven by Wynn-Howard. Officers said they located the body of an adult female, later identified as Tonya Missouri-Smith, deceased inside the Traverse, which had sustained “severe damage to the rear and driver’s side. Her son was also in the vehicle and sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
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Police said that Wynn-Howard’s Jeep was located “over 400 feet north” of the other two cars and had severe front-end damage.
“Complainant states that the investigation revealed the Jeep Wrangler, driven by the Defendant, drove at a very high rate of speed into the back of the Chevrolet Traverse, driven by deceased victim Tonya Missouri-Smith, and forced that vehicle into the back of the Jeep Patriot,” the complaint states.
A subsequent autopsy determined that Missouri-Smith’s cause of death was multiple blunt force injuries consistent with a vehicular crash, including facial lacerations, brain bleeding, a severed spinal cord, and fractures to every one of her ribs as well as her sternum and pelvis. She also lacerated her aorta, lungs, liver, spleen, and intestines.
Missouri-Smith’s son told authorities that his mother was driving west and in the process of turning right when they were struck from behind.
While at the scene, police said Wynn-Howard opened the door and got into the back of a squad car, unprompted.
“The Defendant sat in the back of the squad and appeared to be waiting for police, appearing to fall asleep in the back of the squad while she was waiting,” the complaint states.
When the officer noticed what was happening and approached his car, Wynn-Howard allegedly confessed to driving the Jeep Wrangler that allegedly caused the crash, saying, “That’s my car, I crashed.”
“Complainant notes again that the Defendant is the listed owner of the Jeep Wrangler, which is the car that caused the three vehicle collision,” the complaint states. “Thus, this statement is consistent with the Defendant stating she was driving her car during the crash. The Defendant then went on to state ‘Take me to jail. I crashed that car.’ The Defendant then asked ‘Did I kill anybody?’”
Data from Wynn-Howard’s car showed that five seconds before the crash, she was traveling at 96 mph and “slowly increasing,” with the last data point before the crash showing that she was “traveling 102 mph.” The posted speed limit was 35 mph.
Wynn-Howard is currently being held in the Milwaukee County Jail on a cash-only bond of $40,000, records show.
