Woman Accused of Killing Daughter in Crash Got Four DUIs

A woman accused of killing her daughter in a drunken crash was guilty of four DUIs, according to records filed today.

Karen Faye Honeycutt, 41, either pleaded or was found guilty of misdemeanor drunken driving charges for four separate incidents in San Diego County. 

Three misdemeanors stemmed from incidents on Jan. 22, July 24 and August 14 in 1994. She also committed felony drunken driving on Feb. 7, 1997, according to San Diego County court records.

Since those incidents, she stayed out of trouble until the recent crash, said Renee Rupp, her attorney.

A severe depression possibly triggered a drinking binge that climaxed on Jan. 26 when Honeycutt got behind the wheel of the family’s Jeep with three of her children and crashed on Vail Ranch Parkway near Valentino Way.

The crash killed her 9-year-old daughter, Chloe Honeycutt, and injured her two sons, Zachary “Myles” Honeycutt, 9, and Charles “Tre” Williams, 17.

To read more about the crash,

Honeycutt was sipping a beer while driving her children, which she did occasionally, Myles testified earlier this month.

To read about what Myles said, .

Investigators found Honeycutt with a high blood alcohol level and traces of marijuana in her system, an open beer can in the wrecked Jeep and about a dozen empty beer cans in her home, records show.

Alcohol is not the only possible cause of the crash. To read about another possibility, .

Honeycutt slipped into a depression after losing her job at a San Diego bank, her husband, Aaron Honeycutt, said shortly after the crash.

She even tried to kill herself by cutting her wrists, Rupp said.

She was on medication for her depression, but she ran out shortly before the fatal incident. She tried to get more, but a pharmacist told her the prescription expired, and she needed to see a doctor again, according to Leah Kisner, another attorney involved in the case.

Since losing her job, she had no medical insurance and couldn’t afford to see a physician, so she possibly turned to alcohol, Rupp said. “She may have been self-medicating,” she said.

She was a good woman who made sure to live close to her oldest son’s father, despite being broken up for a long time, the attorneys said. “She’s getting a substantial amount of support and prayers through the community,” Kisner said.