Two men accused of racing along a California roadway before a crash that killed two teenage best friends have now been identified, with prosecutors saying one driver ran from the wreckage and left his injured eight-year-old son behind in the car.
Terry Lamar Easter, 50, and George Gary Sanchez, 49, were arrested in connection with the deaths of Maddalyn Dailey, 17, and her best friend Isabell Hill, 16.
Dailey was taking Hill home around 8.30pm on August 14 when they entered an intersection in Victorville and were struck by two muscle cars, authorities said. The impact tore their vehicle apart, and both girls were pronounced dead at the scene.
Easter, who turned himself in to police on Wednesday morning, is accused of driving a yellow Chevrolet Camaro at speeds reaching 117 miles per hour while his injured eight-year-old son sat in the passenger seat, according to the San Bernardino District Attorney’s Office.
Investigators said the yellow Camaro was the first vehicle to slam into the teens’ car. Police said the driver got out after the collision and fled on foot before officers arrived.
A black Dodge Charger, allegedly driven by Sanchez, then struck the girls’ vehicle as well. Sanchez stayed at the scene and was described as cooperating with investigators.
‘I saw everything,’ Dustin Dailey, Dailey’s father, told the Los Angeles Times. ‘The ball of fire from the other car that hit it, her car in pieces.’
Dailey said his daughter had only planned to drop Hill off at home and had promised she would return in time for dinner.
Maddalyn Dailey, 17, and Isabell Hill, 16, were killed on August 14 at around 8.30pm at an intersection in Victorville, California, after two speeding muscle cars struck their vehicle, investigators said
Terry Lamar Easter, 50, surrendered on Wednesday and was charged with two counts of murder in the girls’ deaths, as well as a misdemeanor racing charge and a felony charge of child abuse likely to cause serious injury or death
Easter had allegedly been driving at speeds of up to 117 miles per hour with his injured eight-year-old son in the passenger seat who prosecutors said he abandoned before fleeing the scene
He said he watched the garage door close and the roar of a car exhaust echoed through the street before the blood-curdling sound of crash caused him to rush just four houses down and discover the horrifying scene.
‘They were ejected from [the car], thrown clear down the road,’ he told the outlet.
The California Highway Patrol said in a release that the ‘violent impact’ caused Dailey’s Acura to ‘split in half.’
Easter was charged with two counts of murder in the girls’ deaths, as well as a misdemeanor racing charge and a felony charge of child abuse likely to cause serious injury or death, the District Attorney’s Office announced.
‘This was not an accident. Street racing at 117 mph is a deliberate and extraordinarily dangerous choice that ended the lives of two young best friends, exposing his own eight-year-old child to that danger and abandoning his child after the crash to flee the scene,’ DA Jason Anderson said.
‘We intend to hold him responsible for every life devastated by his alleged actions.’
Sanchez has yet to be charged, the district attorney noted. Both were booked on suspicion of murder and gross vehicular manslaughter with negligence, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Three others were arrested by law enforcement in connection to the investigation during the hunt for Easter.
Dailey had been giving Hill a ride home when they pulled out into an intersection and two muscle cars ripped their car in half. Both teens died at the scene
Dailey’s father said the road she died on was notorious for street racing
Dustin Dailey, pictured, said Ridgecrest Road has a deadly reputation for frequent street racing and speeding drivers
Ryan James Lewis, 45, Lukevy Shawntell Yates, 49, and Madge Wells, 74, were arrested and charged for allegedly being accessories after the fact. All three cooperated with law enforcement and were later released from custody, the outlet reported.
‘While nothing can erase the devastating loss of two young lives, we hope these arrests bring some measure of comfort to their families and send a clear message that those responsible for senseless acts will be held accountable,’ Chief Tariq Johnson, commander of the CHP Inland Division, said.
Dailey’s father told the outlet that Ridgecrest Road has a deadly reputation for frequent street racing and speeding drivers, so much so that he often suggested his daughter take alternative routes to avoid it.
‘She’s usually pretty good about it because everybody that lives here knows that road is just a deathtrap,’ he said.
Street racing in Victorville has been a pervasive issue for years. The Victorville Police Department urged drivers to exercise caution in 2021 after a ‘speed contest’ incident.
‘The Victorville Police Department urges drivers and parents of drivers to consider the seriousness of illegal street racing,’ the release said.
‘This activity can take lives, cost thousands of dollars in damages and fines, and land participants in jail. In the end there is no “winner.”’
Dailey’s father hopes to petition for a traffic signal at the intersection where his daughter was heartbreakingly killed.
Dailey’s father hopes to petition for a traffic signal where his daughter was heartbreakingly killed.
He has also considered pushing for the stretch of road to be designated a safety corridor, with an increased law enforcement presence and higher fines, the outlet reported.
But the devastated grieving father is left remembering his young daughter as someone who ‘lived life to the fullest.’
He described both teenagers as fun-loving and kind, with a lot of life they had left to live, the outlet reported.
Easter is set to be arraigned on August 31 at Victorville Superior Courthouse.
