$1 million bail in Quincy woman's death

QUINCY — A Quincy man who is charged in the death of his ex-girlfriend over the weekend saw his bail set at $1 million on Monday.

Grant County prosecutors charged Carlos Carranza-Ibarra, 26, of Quincy, in Grant County Superior Court with second-degree murder (intentional). Based on the seriousness of the crime and the defendant having three outstanding warrants out for his arrest when the crime is alleged to have occurred, Deputy Prosecutor Anna Gigliotti requested bail be set at $1 million, which was granted by Judge John Antosz.

About 12:30 a.m. Saturday morning the Washington State Patrol received word of a possible fatality collision on state Route 28. An off-duty deputy reportedly heard the collision from his residence and witnessed a dark-colored sedan accelerate and flee the scene heading west on SR-28. The victim in the collision, Jessica Cuali, 24, of Quincy, was pronounced dead at the scene.

It was learned Cuali had contacted MACC Dispatch before the fatal collision, stating her ex-boyfriend, Carranza-Ibarra, was following her in a dark-colored vehicle. Quincy officers located a vehicle that matched the description and attempted to stop the car. The driver of the vehicle, alleged to be Carranza-Ibarra, continued traveling at a high rate of speed, however. Officers “briefly” lost sight of the car, but later located the vehicle near a ditch at 13th Avenue Southwest and SR-28, according to court documents.

The male driver of the car, who matched the description given to police by Cuali, exited the vehicle and fled the area on foot. He was able to avoid capture for the time being, but officers were able to determine the vehicle he was driving belonged to Cuali. Due to a tip from a Moses Lake officer, investigators learned Carranza-Ibarra and Cuali had been at a bar together before the fatal collision and had some sort of argument. Investigators were also able to track Carranza-Ibarra to a residence in Wenatchee, where he was taken into custody.

Court records indicate the fatal collision occurred just west of Road P Northwest on SR-28. Tire friction marks reportedly indicate Cuali’s vehicle rotated clockwise, left the road and went into an irrigation canal.

“The correlation of the damage to the rear bumper of the Chevy with the damage to the front of the suspect vehicle, along with the divergent tire scrub (mark) at the beginning of the Chevy’s tire friction marks, indicates there was contact between the suspect and victim vehicles in an intentional act of intervention, possibly similar to a PIT (Pursuit Immobilization Technique) maneuver commonly used by police,” wrote a Washington State Patrol detective.

Further evidence reportedly suggests a vehicle, believed to be driven by Carranza-Ibarra, drove off the road at a similar angle to Cuali’s in order to pull up alongside her. In addition, evidence found at the scene allegedly indicates Cuali’s body was moved after the collision.

“Based on the nature of the blood evidence on the pavement, it appeared the victim’s head trauma occurred at her position of rest, and she did not land there as a result of ejection from her vehicle. Furthermore, it appeared her body had been moved from the lane of travel to her final location on the other side of the fog line,” wrote the detective. “The Grant County Medical Examiner on scene pointed to the blood pattern on the underside of the victim’s right forearm, which indicated that part of her arm had been laying in the pool of blood. At her final position of rest, the underside of her right forearm was facing upwards.”

“Therefore, the Medical Examiner was confident the victim had been rolled from the roadway to the other side of the fog line.”

Carranza-Ibarra is scheduled to be in court again on July 23 for his arraignment.

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.