A Farmington woman was arrested this week in a Dec. 11 crash on U.S. Highway 550 near Bondad that killed an Aztec woman and injured three other people, the Colorado State Patrol said.

Yolanda Griswold, 36, was booked into the La Plata County jail on charges of vehicular homicide, vehicular assault and reckless driving in the four-vehicle crash that killed Jennifer Powers, 35, according to Master Trooper Douglas S. Wiersma, a spokesman for the State Patrol.

“The initial investigation by state troopers revealed that Powers’ vehicle (a 2013 Ford Focus), northbound, had crossed the double-yellow centerline and struck an oncoming pickup head-on,” Wiersma said.

The southbound 2014 Ford F-150, driven by Robert Lee, 42, of Durango, spun Powers’ Focus around, Wiersma said, and it was then struck by Griswold’s northbound 2007 GMC Denali and a southbound 2012 Dodge Ram pickup driven by Andrew Standley, 18, of Bayfield.

“At the time of the investigation,” Wiersma said, “it was unknown what caused Powers’ vehicle to cross the centerline.

“Evidence now indicates that the 2007 Denali driven by Griswold, was northbound on 550 when it struck the rear of Powers’ 2013 Ford Focus, also northbound, pushing it into the oncoming lane. Driver distraction and excessive speed on the part of Griswold are suspected to be contributing factors in the crash.”

In addition to killing Powers, a Fort Lewis College student who was en route to the college to assist on a theatrical production, the crash sent her passengers, 32-year-old Frank Coleman and Powers’ 12-year-old son, to Mercy Regional Medical Center with minor injuries.

Vicki Jackson, 62, from Moriarty, New Mexico, a passenger in Lee’s Ford F-150, was taken to Mercy with moderate injuries.

abutler@durangoherald.com