Court docs: Woman charged with vehicular homicide was drunkenly driving 80 mph seconds before the South Hill crash

A 39-year-old woman is back in jail after failing to appear in court for a vehicular homicide case where she is accused of driving over 80 mph on the South Hill, running a red light and slamming into a car, killing a 79-year-old woman who worked four decades for Spokane Public Schools.

Noelle J. Mayberry is charged with suspicion of vehicular homicide in the death of Jonny Guenther and vehicular assault for the serious injuries Guenther’s husband, Jon Gary Guenther, sustained in the Sept. 27, 2024, crash on 29th Avenue and Bernard Street, according to court documents.

Data recorded by Mayberry’s red 2015 GMC Acadia showed she was driving 81 mph five seconds before the crash and slowed to 66 at the time of the collision, police wrote in documents. The speed limit in that area is 30.

A toxicology report showed Mayberry’s blood alcohol content was 0.12, which is above the 0.08 legal limit.

Police also wrote that Mayberry was driving on a suspended license and without an ignition interlock device, which she is required to have.

Officers responded to the crash shortly before 10 p.m. Sept. 27, 2024, and found three damaged vehicles and Mayberry sitting on a curb. The crash involving Mayberry and the Guenthers caused one of those two vehicles to collide with a third car at the intersection, the third driver told police.

Mayberry said she was heading to her parents’ home in north Spokane when the stoplight “turned red quickly from green” at 29th and Bernard, according to documents. She went through the red light and caused the crash, she said. She then ran to one of the occupants in one of the vehicles to try to provide aid.

Officers said they smelled alcohol on Mayberry and that her eyes were watery. She refused to perform field sobriety tests and take a preliminary breath test. She declined to speak further with police after she was arrested.

Jonny Guenther and her husband, who was driving a 2021 Honda CRV, were taken to the hospital. Jonny Guenther died 17 days later at the hospital.

According to her obituary, she was born and raised in Spokane and graduated from Lewis and Clark High School. She met Jon Guenther in Germany, and they married in 1968. They had four children.

A teacher by trade, she worked 40 years for Spokane Public Schools.

Mayberry posted $100,000 bond a few days after her arrest, according to documents. A warrant was issued for her arrest last month after prosecutors say she violated her pretrial release conditions by failing to show up for her trial readiness hearing Dec. 15. She was arrested on Christmas at her South Hill residence.

Mayberry appeared the day after Christmas in Spokane County Superior Court, where Court Commissioner Jerry Scharosch set her bond at $200,000. Mayberry is set for a stay hearing Jan. 23 in front of Superior Court Judge Tony Hazel.

The stay hearing was scheduled after Mayberry’s attorney, Caroline Burnett, asked for a competency evaluation for Mayberry, who “demonstrated patterns of delusional thinking regarding this matter” over the past year Burnett has represented her, Burnett wrote in court documents.

Burnett wrote she is concerned the patterns are indicative of a larger mental health concern that could affect Mayberry’s ability to understand the proceedings against her.