WELD COUNTY, Colo. — Kaylee Russell, the 20-year-old woman found dead following a massive search in northern Colorado in early December, had marijuana in her system, was texting and speeding before she crashed into a canal north of Timnath Reservoir, officials with the Colorado State Patrol said Wednesday.
The findings on the ongoing investigation into the fatal crash on Larimer County Road 1 come after the CSP got a hold of Russell’s toxicology report, which found that impairment from the marijuana "is suspected as a contributing factor in the crash,” according to a news release.
“The investigation also determined that the driver was traveling 60 miles per hour in a curve with an advised speed of 25 miles per hour and was actively using a mobile device to send text messages at the time of the crash,” a CSP spokesperson said in the release.
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Loved ones of missing 20-year-old Colorado woman continue search
The search for Russell, who was last seen east of Loveland on Nov. 30 near the Loveland/Johnstown Park-N-Ride, began after she never showed up to a friend’s house she was supposed to visit that night.
Family and community members who spoke with Denver7 in the days after her disappearance said they were holding on to hope, and described the 20-year-old as a family-oriented sweetheart who would never go "off the radar."
Her disappearance triggered a massive search in northern Colorado, with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the CSP, Evans Police Department and the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office eventually responding to a single-car crash in a canal south of Larimer County Road 44, where Russell was found dead.
CSP officials said the investigation shows the black 2016 Volkswagen Tiguan she was driving was approaching a left curve on Larimer County Road 1 when Russell, “failed to negotiate the curve and drove off the right side of the road, where there was a large embankment for a canal.”
Investigators said the Tiguan went up the steep embankment before crashing with a utility marker and rolling into the canal, where it came to rest on its roof, partially submerged in water.
The Colorado State Patrol’s Vehicular Crimes Unit continues leading the investigation into the crash.
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