Background: News footage of the intersection in Grand Junction, Colo., where Gary Descheene was killed on Dec. 11, 2025 (KKCO). Insets (left to right): Jacob Morton and Kari Frederick (Grand Junction Police Department).
Two Colorado natives have been charged in connection with an alleged speed race that killed a pedestrian late last year.
Jacob Morton, 21, and Kari Frederick, 54, were both arrested on April 1 following an investigation into the car crash that killed 63-year-old Gary Descheene on Dec. 11, 2025. According to the Grand Junction Police Department, both Morton and Frederick were charged with engaging in a speed contest and reckless driving. Morton was also charged with two counts of vehicular homicide, one of which accused him of being under the influence of drugs at the time.
Grand Junction-based news outlet The Daily Sentinel obtained an arrest affidavit that said Morton and Frederick were behind the respective wheels of a Dodge Challenger and a Toyota Camry when the two encountered each other and allegedly tried to speed past each other.
According to the affidavit, Descheene was walking through a crosswalk around 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 11, 2025, when he was hit by the Challenger that was allegedly being driven by Morton. Frederick witnessed the collision and told police "that it could have been [her]." When asked if she and Morton had discussed racing each other, Frederick denied it.
When police questioned Morton after the crash, he told a different story. Police said Morton told them that he and Frederick started going "tit for tat" with each other while driving, saying that they would accelerate and pass each other. According to the affidavit, Morton changed his story about when they started and stopped racing each other. At one point, he told police they started racing as they approached an intersection a few blocks from where the crash took place, but at another time he said that was where they stopped racing.
Both Morton and Frederick were found to be speeding before the moment of the crash. Frederick was allegedly driving about 22 mph over the speed limit right before the crash; Morton was allegedly driving 67 mph before he ran into Descheene.
Police said Morton admitted to smoking "two puffs of marijuana 'leaf'" about four hours before he got behind the wheel. According to the affidavit, his field sobriety test was "unsatisfactory." A blood draw revealed a level of THC that fell exactly at the legal threshold for "permissible inference" of impairment.
While police said Frederick was not directly involved in the crash, they wrote in the affidavit that her speeding was "reckless."
Both Morton and Frederick posted bond and were released from the Mesa County Detention Center. Morton is scheduled to appear in court on April 8; Frederick is scheduled to appear on April 24.
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