Victim identified, suspect arrested in fatal crash on Bigelow Gulch Road

The woman killed in a head-on crash Sunday night on Bigelow Gulch Road has been identified, and deputies have arrested the driver believed responsible.

Judie Smith, 70, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash west of Evergreen Road, according to the Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office. Deputies arrested Shelly R. Riley, 30, on Thursday morning.

The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office said Riley was driving a Honda Civic east on Bigelow Gulch with her boyfriend and their 8-month-old daughter. The Civic crossed the center line and struck a Chevy Geo traveling west at about 8 p.m.

Deputies believe Riley was intoxicated and distracted by an argument with her boyfriend.

Smith was in the passenger seat of the Geo. Her husband, Merrill Smith, 72, was driving. He is now hospitalized with many broken bones, a concussion and a collapsed lung, said their son, Eric Smith.

“It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. It just wasn’t,” Eric Smith said. “One careless act takes away a beautiful lady.”

Smith said his father hasn’t been able to talk much since the crash. But, he said, “I got a good smile out of him today.”

Riley faces charges of vehicular homicide, vehicular assault, unlawful imprisonment, fourth-degree assault, reckless endangerment and driving with a suspended license. She’s being held in the Spokane County Jail and is expected to appear in court this week.

“We were supposed to go out to my grandmother’s cemetery on Monday,” Eric Smith said. “She passed away a month and a half ago, and my mom was going through her room and found an unopened bottle of Scotch. We were going to bring it up there on Monday. And then this happened Sunday night.”