'I'm not that little girl teenager I was,' woman convicted in fatal crash tells parole board

SALT LAKE CITY — Eastyn K. Tueller describes herself as "disrespectful," "rude" and "mean" in her teenage years.

"I was very closed off to everybody including myself," she told the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole on Tuesday. "I was always angry at everybody because I did not like myself."

Tueller admitted that she sometimes turned to drinking as a coping mechanism, which is what she did on Dec. 26, 2022.

Just before 11 p.m., Tueller drove a 2020 Kia Rio northbound on 900 West at 98 mph in a 35 mph zone, ran a red light at 600 North and smashed into a 2012 Ford Escape. Two people in the Ford had to be extricated from their vehicle and were taken to a local hospital in critical and extremely critical conditions, according to charging documents. Rose Elena Mendez-Leyva, 61, later died from her injuries.

Tueller, who was 19, was charged with manslaughter and negligently operating a vehicle resulting in death, second-degree felonies, and other crimes. In 2024, she pleaded guilty to negligently operating a vehicle resulting in death and negligently operating a vehicle resulting in serious injury. She was sentenced to 1 to 15 years in the Utah State Prison.

On Tuesday, Tueller, now 22, went before the parole board for the first time.

She told the board that leading up to the night of the crash, she was dealing with depression, got into arguments with her mother, felt abandoned by her father and would never ask anyone for help.

"I felt scared about asking anybody for anything because I didn't want to be shut down," she said.

On the night of the crash, she said she drank a half case of beer. Her blood-alcohol level was measured at 0.16%.

But when pressed by board member Dan Bokovoy about why she was traveling so fast, Tueller struggled to come up with an explanation.

"I was being really selfish and immature," she said. "I don't know. Maybe I was, like, mad."

Tueller, who was also seriously injured in the crash, said she had to re-learn how to walk, talk and even eat. She said when she is released from prison, she wants to visit schools and talk to students and show them the videos of her hooked up to machines while trying to walk again, as well as her scars, and discourage them from ever drinking and driving.

Since being incarcerated, Tueller says she has learned to love herself, take accountability for what she did, and can now communicate in a healthy way with her mother and others. She says she has a large support group ready to help her when she is released.

"I'm not that little girl teenager I was," she told the board.

She said her biggest challenge will be to overcome self-doubt, but she believes being able now to seek support from others will help her through.

The full five-member board will vote on whether to grant parole or set a new hearing date. If she serves her full time, her sentence will expire in the year 2039.