Kennewick police trying to find 2nd driver after young mom dies falling from car

A young Kennewick mom was out with friends when she fell out of the passenger door of a car and was killed.

Ashley Guevara, 21, died at 1 a.m. Sunday after being run over in the intersection of Clearwater Avenue and Morain Street.

Investigators are still trying to piece together just what happened in the moments leading up to her death.

They know that Guevara was not wearing a seat belt but police can’t yet say if the car door was opened accidentally or intentionally, or whether she was hit by the car she was riding in or a different vehicle.

“We have all of our traffic division in today working on this,” said Kennewick Lt. Aaron Clem. “It’s pretty early stages still but they’re working on all of the details.”

Guevara was the mother of a 1 1/2-year-old boy, Zakiah. Her Facebook page says she was from Grandview.

A GoFundMe campaign, started Sunday evening, described Sunday’s collision as “a tragic, unimaginable accident.”

“We tragically lost a very special person and the pain of it all is unreal,” wrote organizer Tiffany Dugger.

“Ashley was a young, happy 21-year-old mom with so much to live for. ... Her parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters and many other family members are in shock and now have to arrange a very unexpected funeral.”

Dugger thanked people for their “thoughts, prayers and donations during this difficult time.”

The online fundraising campaign said funeral arrangements have not yet been made.

Benton County Coroner Bill Leach told the Tri-City Herald that an autopsy will not be done since they know the cause of her death. However, his office will do some lab testing, which is required by state law.

Leach said it was clear that she died instantly.

2nd car involved

Clem, with the Kennewick Police Department, said Guevara was in the car with friends and the driver was taking all of them home for the night.

The sedan was turning from Morain onto Clearwater when she fell out.

“Why (the door) was open, we’re not sure at this point, but we don’t believe there was any kind of disturbance going on inside the car,” he said. “It could be that she was having some fun and just opened the car door on her own with whatever she was doing, or it could have accidentally opened.”

Investigators have pulled footage from traffic light cameras and businesses around the intersection. They know from witnesses that another vehicle may have been involved in the collision, so they’re using the footage to identify that vehicle and locate the owner, said Clem.

He said investigators want to know why that other driver did not stop, especially if their vehicle hit Guevara.

Anyone who saw what happened but has not yet talked with police is asked to call Sgt. Matt Newton at 509-582-1323.