LOS ANGELES — A young man was ordered Wednesday to stand trial on murder and vehicular manslaughter charges for allegedly speeding when he crashed into three parked vehicles on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu in 2023 — killing four Pepperdine University sorority sisters.
Superior Court Judge Diego H. Edber ordered Fraser Michael Bohm, now 23, of Malibu, to return to the Van Nuys courthouse July 1 for arraignment on four counts each of murder and vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence in the Oct. 17, 2023, nighttime crash that killed Niamh Rolston, 20; Peyton Stewart, 21; Asha Weir, 21; and Deslyn Williams, 21.
All four women were seniors at Pepperdine's Seaver College of Liberal Arts and members of the Alpha Phi sorority. They were set to graduate with Pepperdine's class of 2024, and subsequently received their degrees posthumously.
The four were struck as they walked along the shoulder area after getting out of a vehicle in the 45 mph zone, Deputy District Attorney Nathan Bartos told the judge.
"They were killed because of the driving of the defendant," the prosecutor said, noting that data retrieved from a device in Bohm's BMW indicated that the vehicle accelerated from 93 mph to 104 mph just 2 1/2 seconds before the first of three impacts were detected.
Defense attorney Michael Kraut has questioned the accuracy of the speed figures, arguing that the data from the so-called "black box" is "not accurate" and noting that there are warnings that such data could be inaccurate.
Bohm's attorney — who objected to the murder charges — told the judge that the young man was being "chased in a road-rage incident" and "accelerated" before the deadly crash.
He called his client — who was 22 at the time of the crash — "a kid" and said there was "no evidence of a past history of any driving violations or a parking violation."
The defense lawyer questioned why the prosecution filed a case against Bohm four days after the crash, noting that investigations into deadly crashes typically take eight months to a year.
Bohm, who was initially arrested, then freed from jail and then re-arrested, has been free on bail that was posted shortly after the case was filed against him.
In arguments following two days of testimony, the prosecutor told the judge that witnesses who estimated that Bohm was traveling about 70 mph had "lost sight of him" as he "continued to accelerate."
"... He consciously decided to get that vehicle up to the speed of 104 miles per hour ... He made that decision," the deputy district attorney said, telling the judge that Bohm "lost control of his vehicle."
He noted that Bohm called the crash "an accident" when he spoke early the next morning with Los Angeles County sheriff's investigators. But the prosecutor said, "This was not an accident."
Bohm's attorney said he was in court to seek justice, not to have his client freed from any responsibility for the crash.
In a videotaped interview with sheriff's investigators that was played in court Tuesday, Bohm can be heard saying that "it was an accident" and that he felt "awful."
Bohm said he had to swerve after "some guy" in a white car swerved into his lane and struck his driver's side mirror, resulting in him slamming into the first of the three parked vehicles.
The prosecutor told the judge that the female driver of a white Honda Civic who reported that she saw a car "going really fast" indicated that she never made contact with the BMW before seeing it hit the first parked vehicle. Photos of the Civic showed no apparent damage to it.
The defense attorney countered that a road-rage incident "does not have to be a high-speed chase," referring to another motorist whom he called "aggressive" in attempting to confront Bohm about his driving while they were at a traffic light before the crash.
That driver, Victor Calandra, testified Monday that he saw a vehicle driving erratically, moving from lane to lane and swerving, before he and Bohm wound up next to each other at a traffic light.
He said he saw the driver — whom he identified in court as Bohm — holding a mobile phone between his legs and saw his thumb moving.
"I rolled the window down and tried to get his attention," Calandra said. "I said, `Hey, you need to be careful. You're going to hurt yourself."'
He said he got no response from Bohm.
"Isn't it true that you began to chase Fraser Bohm ... after you made your statement to him?" the defense attorney asked.
"Absolutely not," the prosecution witness responded as his account came under attack by Kraut.
Another prosecution witness, Miguel Cruchinho, testified that he was driving too far behind to see the collision, but said he rushed to Bohm's BMW when he came upon the collision scene.
He told the judge that he saw the vehicle's front door was open, saying that he yelled at the man, "`What are you doing?"'
The prosecution witness testified that Bohm responded, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He noted that he was trying to get the young man to sit down because he "didn't know if he was going to try to run."
The witness acknowledged under cross-examination that another driver who helped to make sure that Bohm remained at the scene was upset and yelled at him.
"Were you upset?" the prosecutor asked when it came time for another round of questioning.
"Yes, I was upset because four people had lost their (lives)," Cruchinho said, noting that he had seen the victims' bodies.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Jim Arens told reporters shortly after the crash that there was "no evidence" the crash stemmed from an alleged road-rage incident.
Sheriff's officials said Bohm swerved onto the north shoulder of westbound PCH and slammed into three vehicles parked alongside on the roadway. Those parked vehicles struck the four Pepperdine students, leaving them dead at the scene, according to the sheriff's department.
That section of PCH — a short stretch between Las Flores Canyon and Carbon Canyon roads — is known as "Dead Man's Curve" and reportedly has seen the highest number of auto accidents on the overall 21-mile coastal road.
The tragedy prompted numerous calls to remedy the dangers and minimize speeds along that section of PCH. No safeguards were in place for pedestrians at the crash scene, even though the city has known about the dangers for decades, lawyers for the students' parents say.
On the one-year anniversary of the tragedy, Malibu officials discussed initiatives to improve safety along PCH, including new legislation authorizing speed cameras at five critical locations and increased enforcement efforts, including the creation of a Malibu CHP Task Force and collaborative operations with the sheriff's department.
There also are moves underway to redesign PCH. According to the city of Malibu, the long-term plan will "transform PCH from a high-speed highway into a safer, community-focused corridor, providing safe access for all users, including pedestrians, cyclists and drivers."
Last year, Pepperdine announced a scholarship in honor of victims — called the Our Four Angels Endowed Scholarship.
The case has also prompted lawsuits.
The parents of the four students are suing the state, Caltrans, the California Coastal Commission, Los Angeles County and Malibu.
The separately filed Santa Monica Superior Court lawsuits contend that all of those entities share liability for the allegedly dangerous roadway design on that portion of PCH, and for not implementing life-saving safety measures.
A sheriff's captain reported that, from 2013-23, there were 53 deaths and 92 serious injuries in the area, and that attempts to improve conditions through law enforcement have had minimal or temporary results, according to the suits.
