Los Angeles County DA George Gascon on Monday said the driver accused of causing a fiery crash that killed six people – including a pregnant woman – in Los Angeles last week has been charged with six counts of murder and five counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.
The five counts are for five people who were killed. An unborn child could not be accounted for the manslaughter charge, Gascon said. She faces up to 90 years to life in prison if convicted.
The announcement came after Nicole Lorraine Linton, a 37-year-old nurse from Houston, was released from a hospital and taken to jail, according to custody records. It was not immediately clear whether she had an attorney who could comment on her behalf.
As of Sunday, Nicole Lorraine Linton was being held in lieu of $9 million bail at LA County's Century Regional Detention Facility, records show.
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Thursday's crash killed Asherey Ryan, her 11-month-old son Alonzo Quintero and her boyfriend, Reynold Lester, Sha'seana Kerr said in a GoFundMe posting.
Lester's family told KABC-TV that the 24-year-old security guard was the father of Ryan's unborn child, who was listed as "baby boy Ryan" in online coroner's records.
Two other women were also killed but their names weren't made public as of Monday.
The California Highway Patrol said a Mercedes-Benz ran a red light at high speed and caused the crash involving as many as six cars near a gas station in unincorporated Windsor Hills about 10 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles. Several victims were thrown from the cars and two vehicles caught fire.
CHP Officer Franco Pepi called it "one of the most horrific crashes that we've seen."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
