An Arbuckle man is facing murder charges in connection with an alleged drunken-driving collision in Winters that left his wife dead Saturday night.
Winters police said Joshua Douglas Muller, 30, was at the wheel of a vehicle that crashed shortly before 9:30 pm. on Railroad Avenue north of Neimann Street, where responding officers found a woman gravely injured inside the car and rendered aid until medical personnel arrived on scene, according to a Winters Police Department Facebook post.
“The front passenger, identified as Sarah Muller, a 39-year-old resident of Arbuckle, was pronounced deceased at the scene,” the post said. “The driver, identified as Joshua Muller, a 30-year- old resident of Arbuckle, displayed signs and symptoms of being under the influence of alcohol.”
Winters Police Chief John Miller said Monday that the Mullers, heading home from a “date night” in downtown Winters, were traveling northbound on Railroad Avenue in a GMC Yukon Denali when the sport-utility vehicle left the roadway for unknown reasons and struck a tree.
Winters police released this photo of the heavily damaged SUV in which an Arbuckle woman died Saturday in an alleged DUI crash. Courtesy photo
Muller, who was injured in the crash, was transported to Kaiser Hospital in Vacaville, where a preliminary alcohol screening revealed a blood-alcohol content of 0.14, above the legal limit of 0.08, police said.
On probation for prior DUI conviction out of Colusa County, Muller was transported to the Yolo County Jail for booking on charges including murder and driving under the influence causing injury or death, police said.
He remained in custody on a no-bail hold Monday morning, his first court appearance scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in Yolo Superior Court.
Muller’s preliminary murder charge stems from California’s Watson implied-malice rule, reflecting the prior court warnings he would have received about the dangers of impaired driving, as well as the advisement that a future DUI resulting in a death could bring murder charges.
Both the Davis Police Department Major Accident Investigation Team (MAIT) and the Vacaville Police Department traffic division are assisting Winters police with the collision investigation. Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact Winters police Detective David Gonzalez at 530-795-2261.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene