MOHAVE COUNTY — The Yavapai-Apache Nation and its members grieved the loss of a loved one at a Jan. 16 sentencing hearing in a traffic fatality.
They offered extensive emotional impact statements involving the death last spring of tribal member Terrence Wathogoma, Camp Verde. Wathogoma was fatally injured when the vehicle he was operating collided with an eighteen-wheeler that pulled out in front of him on US 93, about 28 miles south of Hoover Dam.
The Houston, Texas truck driver involved, Jillian Ray, 36, pleaded guilty last November to a charge of failing to remain at the scene of an accident involving injury or death. Deputy Mohave County attorney James Gilmore said Ray pulled onto the highway from a truck stop before the deadly crash occurred on March 22, 2025.
“My brother was a very special man,” Wathogoma’s grieving sister told Mohave County Superior Court judge Lee Jantzen. “I cry for him every day. I’m waiting for a text or a call from him. It hurts. I’m lost without him.”
Others advised that Wathogoma was a tribal treasure who was cultural warrior for his nation, helping members deal with substance abuse issues. They said Wathogoma was traveling back from a youth basketball event in Las Vegas at the time of the crash.
Gilmore said Ray drove from the accident rather than stop to render aid as the law requires. Responding law enforcement officers apprehended her a few miles from the crash site.
“You didn’t make the right decision,” Jantzen told Ray. “You drove off and that’s why we’re here today.”
Jantzen imposed a 3.5-year prison term.
