Investigation of Fatal Crash on Silver Strand Continues; Friend of Driver Disputes Carjacking Claim

As authorities probe further into the March 3 crash that killed Jamie Summer Guillen and Roosevelt Lewis Jr., many details are still unclear. Guillen was the driver of a Ford F-150 that led sheriff’s deputies on a high-speed chase down the Silver Strand.

One week later, investigators continue to question the initial report of a stolen truck with a kidnapped passenger inside. Now Guillen’s boyfriend is disputing those claims as well.

Around 7:30 a.m. on March 3, authorities received a call from a woman reporting a carjacking and kidnapping, said Sgt. Roy Frank of the sheriff’s homicide division. The woman told authorities she “was in charge of the vehicle at that time.”

The woman also said she and a man, now identified as Lewis, had been cleaning and detailing the truck when a couple approached, Frank explained. The woman told authorities the approaching woman, now identified as Guillen, had a knife and demanded they turn over the vehicle.  

According to the initial report, Guillen got behind the wheel and drove off with Lewis still inside the truck. “At which point, it became a kidnapping,” Frank said.

But as the investigation unfolded, authorities questioned the 911 caller’s account of events.   

“At this point in the investigation, it has not been established whether an actual carjacking did, in fact, occur,” Lt. Dennis Brugos said in a statement released the evening of the crash. A week later, authorities are continuing to ask questions and “to find out why it was reported as a kidnapping and carjacking,” Frank said. “That part is still unclear.”

Agustin “Auggie” Tirado identified himself as Guillen’s boyfriend. He said he was in the truck five minutes before it took off down the Silver Strand and crashed. Tirado disputed initial claims that Guillen stole the truck. “Make a longer story short it was no carjacking,” he wrote in a comment on patch.com. “If people would stop makin up story this woulda of not have happend [sic].”

Authorities said they knew about Tirado based on the original report made by the 911 caller.

“The reporting party said there were two suspects and one victim [in the truck],” Frank explained. But when they arrived at the crash scene, there were only two bodies, Guillen and Lewis, which left investigators wondering about the whereabouts of the third person.

Authorities are still trying to figure out when the third person, who has identified himself as Tirado, got out of the truck. “We’re not sure if he left the car prior to the law enforcement’s involvement,” Frank said.

Tirado, 26, told The San Diego Union-Tribune that he was riding in the truck with Guillen, Lewis and the other woman, who has not been identified. The Union-Tribune also ran the Ford F-150's license plate and learned that the truck's owner is Joseph Edwards of Imperial Beach.

Edwards has not spoken publicly about the incident. But in the Union-Tribune article, Tirado said Edwards gave them permission to borrow the truck, as long as they filled it up with gas.

“He said Guillen and the other woman argued and the woman was left behind at an Imperial Boulevard gas station. Tirado said he got out a few blocks later to walk to a friend’s house,” the Union-Tribune reported.

The Sheriff’s Department confirmed the four people involved knew each other. “We know they did have some sort of contact prior to the incident,” Frank said.  

“Originally we had two victims and two suspects,” he said. “But at this point in time we believe the four people involved were probably associates in some way.”

Tirado and the woman who reported the incident are considered “persons of interest,” Frank explained. “But we’re still trying to clear up whether they are witnesses, victims or even suspects.”

What authorities do know is that a sheriff’s deputy first spotted the reportedly stolen truck somewhere around Eighth Street in Imperial Beach. At which point, Guillen, the driver of the truck, “fled from him,” Frank said.

Shortly thereafter, “another deputy picked up the vehicle closer to Palm Avenue,” he added. The truck then headed toward Coronado.

The deputy pursued the truck and signaled for it to pull over. But instead, Guillen rammed the patrol car. “He believes that she deliberately sideswiped him,” Jan Caldwell of the Sheriff’s Department told reporters on the day of the accident.

The truck continued northbound on the Silver Strand, weaving in and out of traffic at a high speed, said traffic officer Jim Dunphey of the Coronado Police Department.

Authorities are still calibrating the exact speed of the truck, but they do know it was traveling “in excess of 80 mph,” Dunphey said.  

“She tried to fit between two other cars that were also traveling northbound—a red Toyota Tercel and a silver PT Cruiser,” he explained. “She struck the rear end of the Tercel and sent it skidding.”

The truck then bumped the PT Cruiser and rear-ended a box truck that was parked along the highway, near the boat ramp at Glorietta Bay Park.

“She hit the box truck square on,” which caused the box truck to slide about 80 feet forward—with its parking brake on, Dunphey said. The impact caused the pickup truck to leave the roadway and flip on its side. The engine caught fire with Guillen and Lewis trapped inside. Firefighters extinguished the flames within minutes.

Guillen and Lewis were found dead at the scene. Dunphey said they died from the impact of the crash, not the fire.      

Authorities confirmed reports of a pit bill that was flung from the truck when it overturned. “We believe the dog may have belonged to one of the suspects, but we are still investigating that,” Frank said.

“A couple people here saw the dog and grabbed him and gave him to one of our deputies,” Caldwell said at the crash scene. “It looks like he’s gonna be all right.”

A woman in the Toyota Tercel and a man and woman in the PT Cruiser were taken to nearby hospitals. Dunphey said they have since been released.

At this point, no arrests have been made. The investigation is still under way.