Woman found guilty of all charges filed in connection to double-fatal Pine County crash

Court records show a Park Rapids woman has been found guilty of all charges filed against her for a Pine County crash in 2022 that left two people dead, and two others injured.

A jury found Anastasia Nicole Nelson, now 21, guilty of four counts of criminal vehicular homicide and two counts of criminal vehicular operation. Two of the vehicular homicide charges were modified by having a blood alcohol concentration of at least .08 within two hours of driving.

Initially, Nelson was charged with two counts of criminal vehicular homicide and one count of criminal vehicular operation, but an amended complaint was filed last month adding the three other charges.

Nelson’s sentencing has been scheduled for the afternoon of Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024.

As previously reported by 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS, the crash happened shortly before 2 a.m. on Oct. 15, 2022.

Charging documents state a woman called police after Nelson arrived at her home saying a crash had happened, and that she had been drinking alcohol at a party.

According to the criminal complaint, the woman who called police was told by Nelson that three people were in the ditch, but that only one of the three people was talking.

Deputies had trouble finding the crash scene initially, but later found Nelson at the end of the reporting woman’s driveway, where she told them two vehicles were at the crash and the second one had left, according to the complaint. Nelson then directed a deputy to the crash scene, located at the intersection of Pokegama Lake Road and Fairway Road SW.

The document later identifies the two people who died as 20-year-old Kiya Laural Joyce Johnson and 18-year-old Deandre Thomas Foss Sydney, adding one of them was partially decapitated and a part of one of their head was found about 30 feet south of a vehicle, identified as a Pontiac. The third person, identified as an 18-year-old man, said his chest and back hurt, and was flown to North Memorial Hospital.

Deputies said they found and followed tire tracks, where they determined the car hit a fiber optics box and a power pole support cable before hitting a large tree, where a human bone and glass fragments were lodged.

A blood alcohol test showed a percentage of 0.09, which the complaint said was taken around 4:15 a.m. that day. The complaint goes on to say that after leaving the hospital, Nelson told deputies she had been driving for a quarter mile but was “flashed on by another vehicle, and she pulled over due to swerving and knew she couldn’t drive.

After pulling over, the document goes on to say that Nelson told deputies she “should not have been driving” after she was told the condition of her friends.

Nelson faces a maximum of 50 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.