Sidney Whitmarsh, accused of hit-and-run fatality in Edwards, set for arraignment
At March 12 appearance in district court, Whitmarsh, 24, will hear the charges against her and make a plea
Sidney Whitmarsh, the 24-year-old Edwards resident who faces charges stemming from a hit-and-run fatality on Jan. 7, 2024, has an arraignment set in district court on March 12.
Whitmarsh will hear the charges against her and make a plea at that time, Judge Rachel Olguin-Fresquez said at a hearing on Feb. 19.
“If not a plea agreement then we’ll be looking at possible trial setting,” Olguin-Fresquez said.
At a hearing in September, Whitmarsh’s attorney, Coleen O’Leary, said the terms of a deal in which Whitmarsh had been offered a 30-year sentence were unacceptable at that time.
“Thirty years for a woman who has no criminal history, zero,” O’Leary said at a hearing in September. “So we are fighting this case.”
Support Local Journalism
If all the charges against her make it to trial, Whitmarsh could be facing three felonies and a misdemeanor, including a class-3 felony for failure to remain at the scene of a crash resulting in death; a class-6 felony for tampering with physical evidence; a class-3 felony for vehicular homicide; and a class-2 misdemeanor for failure to notify the police of a traffic accident resulting in death.
Prosecutors have a large file of evidence against Whitmarsh — including the investigation of Colorado State Patrol Trooper Colin Remillard, who used physical evidence from Whitmarsh’s car, video surveillance from nearby businesses, and text messages from Whitmarsh’s phone to put together a case. Remillard alleges that Whitmarsh was driving while intoxicated on Jan. 7 when she hit and killed Mario Vildozola Romero, and later conspired to have his body hidden before fleeing the state with the help of her mother, her father, and her friend Jaime Ledezma.
Whitmarsh’s mother, Stephanie Whitmarsh, is also set to appear before Olguin-Fresquez on March 12. Stephanie Whitmarsh is facing felony charges for accessory to a crime and tampering with physical evidence and has also received a misdemeanor concealing death charge. The March 12 hearing will be Stephanie Whitmarsh’s first appearance in district court on those charges. on the same day, Stephanie Whitmarsh will make her first appearance before Olguin-Fresquez in a completely different case in which she has been accused of stealing from her former employer and charged with three felonies — theft, cybercrime and unauthorized use of a financial device.
Ledezma has a disposition hearing scheduled for March 17 in Eagle County Court. He’s facing numerous charges including tampering with a deceased human body, accessory to a crime, tampering with evidence and concealing death.
On Feb. 5, Whitmarsh’s father Cean Whitmarsh was sentenced to 120 days of electronic home monitoring and four years of supervised probation after pleading guilty to felony accessory to a crime.
