Woman Guilty Of Killing Teen Couple In Paulding Crash

DALLAS, GA — A Hiram woman has been found guilty of vehicular homicide and reckless driving in the deaths of a teen Paulding County couple who were on their way to visit the girl's mother in the hospital.

A Superior Court jury convicted Sarah Elizabeth Dowdy, 24, on all five counts she faced at trial. Dowdy was speeding and driving recklessly when she crashed into another vehicle on June 17, 2015, killing Janeal Priester and Nick Wright and injuring Janeal's brother, Joshua.

According to investigators, Dowdy was driving faster than 75 m.p.h. in a 55 m.p.h. zone on Ga. Route 61 near Old Villa Rica Road in Dallas. She struck the vehicle being driven by Jeneal Priester.

Initially, police said they did not believe there would be any charges in the case and that Priester had pulled out in front of Dowdy.

But a witness came forward saying that Dowdy, driving a Toyota Camry, and the driver of another vehicle, a Ford Mustang, were driving erratically before the wreck, speeding up and slowing down as if they were drag racing.

The witness said Dowdy was trying to pass the Mustang when she struck Priester's Oldsmobile Alero.

The case was initially presented to the district attorney's office as a misdemeanor vehicular homicide. But as more evidence came to light, Dowdy was indicted on two counts of first-degree vehicular homicide, speeding, serious injury by vehicle and reckless driving.

During a four-day trial, the jury heard from 10 witnesses for the state and received more than 300 exhibits. The defense called just one witness. The guilty verdicts were returned on Thursday.

Dowdy was sentenced to 20 years, with 10 years to be served in confinement. She was taken into custody immediately after the verdict was read.

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Photos courtesy Paulding County Sheriff's Office, GoFundMe