Accused killer Fraser Bohm asked officers again and again whether he could call his mother after learning that four young women may have been killed in the devastating Malibu crash he is accused of causing, newly filed court documents show.
Bohm, who was 22 at the time, told police he was “scared” and wanted “to go home” while he was being held at the scene of the October 2023 chain-reaction crash that killed four Pepperdine University sorority sisters.
Officers did not allow him to leave. Instead, according to legal filings obtained by Our News Outlet, they detained Bohm and questioned him for hours about what led to the crash, how fast he had been driving, and whether alcohol, Xanax, vaping or texting may have been factors.
Nearly three years later, Bohm’s lawyers are pushing to keep jurors at his upcoming quadruple murder trial from hearing what he said to police in the aftermath of the deadly collision on the night of October 17, 2023.
The defense has filed a motion asking the court to suppress those statements — many captured on police body-worn cameras — arguing they should be deemed inadmissible because they were made during the roughly six hours between the crash and the moment officers read Bohm his Miranda rights following his arrest.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Thomas Rubinson is expected to decide Wednesday whether Bohm’s pre-Miranda comments will be excluded from evidence or allowed to be presented to a jury.
While waiting for his case to be called at Van Nuys Court near Los Angeles, Bohm — dressed in a gray suit, white shirt and blue checkered tie — sat quietly beside his mother, Brooke, 57, who reportedly bought him the BMW involved in the crash as an 18th birthday gift.
Bohm, now 24, has pleaded not guilty to four counts of second-degree murder and four counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence in the crash that killed Pepperdine University sorority sisters Niamh Rolston, 20, Asha Weir, 21, Peyton Stewart, 21, and Deslyn Williams, 21.
Fraser Bohm, 24, was seen arriving at court ahead of a crucial hearing over whether jurors will hear what he told police in the hours after the deadly Malibu crash
He is facing four counts of second-degree murder and four counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence over the crash that killed four Pepperdine students in 2023
The four young women died when Bohm lost control of his BMW and slammed into three stationary vehicles in the parking lane on PCH, next to where the girls were walking.
The speed limit on that stretch of PCH is 45mph and prosecutors slapped Bohm with murder charges after retrieving the ‘black box’ from his car which showed that he accelerated from 93mph to 104mph just two and a half seconds before the crash.
In their 10-page motion the obtained by Daily Mail asking Judge Rubinson to suppress Bohm’s pre-Miranda comments, his lawyers lay out a timeline of LA Sheriff’s deputies’ recordings of what happened the night of the crash starting on-scene at 8.37pm with ‘Fraser identifies himself (to deputies) as the driver.’
- 8.38pm: ‘Fraser repeatedly says he is scared and offers to be breathalyzed.’
- 8.43pm: A deputy’s body camera ‘captures Fraser repeatedly asking to call his mother…..’
- 8.54pm: ‘Fraser learns there may be four fatalities and again asks (deputy) to call his mother.’
- 9.03pm: Deputy ‘begins detailed collision questioning: how crash happened, speed, number of cars, alcohol, Xanax, origin/destination, injuries, seatbelt etc. Fraser tells a firefighter he would rather go home.’
- 9.10pm: Deputy ‘checks/searches him, asks about/takes the vape.’
- 10.14pm: Deputy administers two breath tests. ‘Fraser asks whether he can sit in patrol car because he is cold. Deputy challenges Fraser’s speed estimate as ‘not too believable.’
- 10.43pm: Bohm takes field sobriety tests. Deputy ‘asks about Fraser taking Xanax…and asks him if drank anything after the collision, about the tacos, when he last slept, drugs use.
- 11.46pm: He is taken to a hospital to have his blood drawn and check the facial injuries he suffered in the crash.
- 12.18am: ‘Fraser tells (hospital) staff police detained him for about three and a half hours and took his phone.’
- 12.30am: Bohm’s blood is drawn and ‘deputy tells hospital staff Fraser ‘is gonna be booked for vehicular manslaughter’……Fraser repeatedly asks to leave/go home. Deputies do not permit him to leave and say he has to wait for medical clearance.’
- 12.46am: Deputy ‘expressly tells Fraser ‘you are detained’ twice. He distinguishes ‘not under arrest’ from being detained. Fraser’s father is not permitted to see him.
- 1.34am: After Bohm is discharged from hospital, in the patrol car taking him to the police station, ‘Deputies tell Fraser that he is going to be booked and taken to jail. Fraser states, ‘I got hit on the left, on my driver’s side mirror.’ Fraser asks if they are going to read him his rights but the deputies say no. Deputies tell him he is under arrest.’
- 2.30am: At the police station detectives ask Bohm ‘whether anyone has read Miranda. Fraser says no and that he asked about it in the car. Detective Mirandizes him.
- 2.32am: Two detectives conduct ‘substantial Mirandized interrogation of Bohm: collision, speed, friends’ prior crash, speed kills, drugs/alcohol, Xanax, route from Santa Monica, phone PIN etc.
- 2.42am: Questioning ends.
An LA sheriff’s deputy also told the court Wednesday that a witness who saw him on the PCH just before the fatal crash said Bohm had been driving ‘like a bat out of hell’.
The deputy, Joseph Telles, said that the witness, Victor Calandra, estimated that Bohm’s BMW was traveling at 70-80mph before the crash.
The crash killed four Pepperdine University students, including Deslyn Williams (left) and Niamh Rolston who were sorority sisters and close friends
Peyton Stewart (left) and Asha Weir were members of Alpha Phi at Pepperdine University – and were pronounced dead alongside their two friends at the scene
Telles – called to give testimony Wednesday by defense attorney Jacqueline Sparagna – was the first cop to arrive at the pile-up and told the court that he parked his car alongside the bodies of the victims to help block the grizzly scene from public view.
When he started questioning Bohm about what happened, Telles said that the defendant told him he was ‘really in shock’ and also complained that he had ‘a busted chin or jaw, cut tongue and his elbow hurt.’
Sparagna suggested that Bohm also told him, ‘My life is over,’ though Telles said he didn’t recall that comment.
The deputy went on to say that he questioned Bohm about whether he had consumed alcohol – and two subsequent breathalyzer tests showed .00 blood alcohol content. But he added that Bohm admitted he had taken Xanax, for which he had a prescription.
Footage obtained by KTLA from the night of the crash show the mangled remains of his red BMW which he received as an 18th birthday present as part of his wealthy parents’ divorce settlement
The four young women were struck and killed along the Pacific Coast Highway in an area known locally as ‘Dead Man’s Curve’ on October 17, 2023
When Sparagna asked him if Bohm told him he took Xanax to combat panic attacks, Deputy Telles said he couldn’t recall.
Telles – who said he also questioned Bohm about ‘edibles, marijuana and vaping’ – agreed that the defendant also asked to call his mother several times.
He denied Sparagna’s accusation that he ignored those requests.
Telles admitted hearing him say, ‘I just want to call my mom – I don’t want her to be worried.’
Telles said he also asked Bohm if he was talking on his cell phone or texting at the time of the crash, but the deputy added, ‘I know that the crash was caused by speed.’
He added that Bohm said he was driving at ’55-60mph’ at the time of the crash, a speed Telles described as ‘not too believable.’
Bohm’s jury trial was originally scheduled to start Wednesday.
But last week, Judge Rubinson agreed to postpone it till December 1 after hearing from the young Malibu native’s attorney, Alan Jackson, that he needed more time to mount a defense against prosecutors’ explosive ‘new theory’ that Bohm had a ‘giant canister of nitrous oxide’ – better known as laughing gas – in his lap just before the crash.
Bohm’s lead defense attorney Alan Jackson argues his client was effectively in police custody for hours before investigators finally read him his Miranda rights
Jackson complained in earlier court filings that the LA District Attorney’s announcement ‘on the eve of trial’ that the 10-12 pound canister of nitrous, with nozzle, found inside Bohm’s car would be a center-piece of the case, ‘implied’ that Bohm was inhaling the gas at the time of the crash.
But, Deputy DA Nathan Bartos assured the court that he did not intend to argue that Bohm actually inhaled the nitrous – which can produce a short, euphoric high when inhaled – only that he ‘possessed’ the canister ‘and that possession distracted his driving.’
Judge Rubinson told the court that he would ‘hold prosecutors to that’ and he would not allow any suggestion to the jury at trial that Bohm was actually inhaling nitrous at the time of the accident, ‘not even a nod, nod, wink wink.’
The judge scheduled another pre-trial hearing on September 16. Meanwhile, Bohm remains free on $4 million bail.
The grieving parents of the four victims have all brought wrongful death civil lawsuits against Bohm and are also suing the State of California, LA County, the City of Malibu and the California Coastal Commission, alleging dangerous road design on PCH and lack of safety standards.
All four victims had been seniors at Pepperdine’s Seaver College of Liberal Arts, where they were members of the Alpha Phi Sorority.
They were due to graduate with the class of 2024 and later were awarded their Pepperdine degrees posthumously.
