Passenger killed in Modesto crash following pursuit is ID’d. Driver faces murder charge
The 28-year-old woman killed in a crash early Wednesday on Oakdale Road in Modesto after a high-speed police pursuit that began in Ceres has been identified as Kendra Sanguinetti of Sonora.
The driver of the car, 24-year-old Devin Long of Jamestown, has been booked on charges including murder, causing injury or death while evading police, DUI causing injury, driving on a suspended license and resisting arrest. He is being held without bail. On his Facebook page, Long refers to Sanguinetti as his wife.
In an updated news release Thursday on the crash, the Ceres Police Department said, “Kendra was wanted for a felony assault with a deadly weapon warrant out of Sonora PD. She also had several outstanding misdemeanor warrants for her arrest. Investigators believe this may have played a part into why the vehicle fled from officers.”
The car Long was driving was a 2013 Toyota Avalon stolen out of Sonora. The owner, Stephen Turpen, told The Bee that Long and Sanguinetti were at his home Tuesday to visit his grandchildren and stole the keys at that time.
The pair returned at night and stole the car, which he didn’t learn until police woke him up about 4:45 a.m. Wednesday, asking if he’d had a Toyota Camry stolen. He replied that he didn’t have a Camry but did have an Avalon, and when he took officers to where it should have been parked, it was gone.
The crash happened about 1:40 a.m. Wednesday in the northbound lane of Oakdale Road between Scenic Drive and County Center 3 Court. Long lost control of the car and struck a tree on the east side of the road near the Jack in the Box restaurant.
The impact tore the Avalon in half and Sanguinetti fell onto the road, said officer Randy Raduechel of the Modesto Police Department, which is handling the crash investigation.
The pursuit started about 10 minutes earlier when a Ceres police officer spotted the Avalon in the parking lot of a closed business complex at the northwest corner of Mitchell and Don Pedro roads.
When the officer pulled into the parking lot to investigate, the Avalon’s lights came on and it “began to quickly move through the parking lot,” according to a press release from Ceres police.
As the Avalon pulled onto southbound Mitchell Road, another Ceres officer who was in the area got behind it. The officers initiated a stop as it turned east onto Service Road.
The Avalon pulled into a Chevron gas station on Service and stopped briefly before accelerating out of the gas station and back toward Mitchell, where it went north.
The Avalon was traveling in excess of 100 mph as it headed north on Mitchell, according to the press release.
Spike strips were laid across the roadway at Mitchell and Fowler Road, but the suspect drove around them, police said.
As the Avalon crossed Yosemite Boulevard, it gained distance from the lead pursuing officer, who could at that point only see its taillights.
The driver of the Avalon lost control of the vehicle as it entered the intersection of Scenic Drive and Oakdale Road. Upon crashing, Long ran from the wreckage toward businesses on the east side of Oakdale Road.
After a search of about 40 minutes, he was located by Modesto police in a nearby trash enclosure, the release said.
This story was originally published December 19, 2019 at 9:39 AM.
