April Dawn Jackson Reynolds, 41, of Boulder Creek pleaded guilty Feb. 21 to killing 20-year-old Lauren Berglund, also of Boulder Creek, while driving drunk on Highway 9 in May.
Reynolds was charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated with a blood alcohol level of 0.27 percent. The legal limit in California is 0.08 percent.
Reynolds was also charged with driving with a license that had been suspended since 1994.
She will be sentenced April 16 and could face 11 years in prison.
“I’m glad we didn’t have to go through the trial, but it’s bittersweet, because my daughter should be here,” said Berglund’s mother, Angie Weidemann. “I wish she (Reynolds) would have done this a while back.”
Reynolds had been drinking at a Boulder Creek bar May 14, 2007, when she ran out of money, said prosecutor Ariadne Symons. She was kicked out of the bar after offering sexual favors to at least one patron. She declined a ride home and drove north on Highway 9. Witnesses say she was driving 60 to 75 mph on Highway 9 in a 30 mph zone. Reynolds hit Berglund north of Boulder Creek near Bear Creek Road.
“Everything about it is a horrible tragedy,” Symons said.
Berglund was a 2005 San Lorenzo Valley High School graduate and worked at Togo’s and Supercuts before her most recent job at Ferrell’s Donuts in Santa Cruz.
Weidemann said the support of the community has been wonderful.
“My only thing is that we need to step up,” she said. “The amount of drunk driving is (high).”
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