Woman charged in deadly crash told cops she drove wrong way to stop chase, affidavit says
The Wichita woman charged with killing a Heartspring employee in a fatal crash in October told police she was using an ounce of methamphetamine daily, was hallucinating because she had been awake for a week and saw nothing but “shadow people” as she drove into oncoming traffic.
She also said she drove on the wrong side of the road on purpose so police would stop following her, her arrest affidavit says.
Katelyn Barrioz told authorities that her adrenaline “was so high” and she “was so scared” as she fled from officers in stolen vehicles on Oct. 28 that she “wasn’t paying attention to anything” — including the Chevy Cobalt driven by 43-year-old Mandy Lynn Buckwalter, a world traveler who taught students to speak English abroad and worked with children with disabilities in Heartspring’s therapeutic school in Wichita.
“I was up for about a week so I was hallucinating,” the affidavit says Barrioz told police after her arrest.
She added that she didn’t recall any cars driving toward her as she barreled through traffic in northeast Wichita in an attempt to shake officers on the ground and in the air who were following her from a Walmart, the affidavit says.
Barrioz was driving a stolen transit van in the wrong lanes of traffic around 12:38 pm. on 29th Street North near Wilderness when she crashed head-on into Buckwalter.
“I was just seeing shadow people,” the affidavit says Barrioz told authorities before she offered more details about her prolonged drug use:
“We had drank more dope. We had drunk more dope in coffee,” the affidavit says she told them.
Barrioz, 24, is charged with first-degree felony murder, an alternative count of second-degree reckless murder, fleeing or attempting to elude law enforcement, aggravated burglary, felony theft and criminal damage to property in connection with the deadly crash.
A lawyer listed for Barrioz in court records did not return a message seeking comment. She has not yet been arraigned or had a chance to enter a not-guilty or other plea.
Her next court date is Jan. 6.
Cops follow stolen car
Wichita police have said the deadly collision was a culmination of actions Barrioz and others took leading up to the crash, including allegedly stealing cars and shoplifting items from Walmart.
Undercover officers in unmarked vehicles who were working as part of a theft-reduction task force first started following her and two men around noon on Oct. 28 near Pawnee and St. Francis in south Wichita while they were driving a stolen 2014 Ford Escape, the affidavit says.
Police say one of the men with Barrioz drove the Ford Escape to the Walmart at 3030 N. Rock Road and parked near the store’s automotive entrance. The two men then went inside — allegedly to steal shoes, tank tops and a T-shirt — while Barrioz moved to the driver’s seat and waited in the car, according to the affidavit.
Things escalated when one of the men returned to the car around 12:25 p.m. and law enforcement officers in marked vehicles tried to halt them. Barrioz pulled the stolen Ford Escape forward, struck one of the police cars and took off, driving over a curb and grass around 12:26 p.m., the affidavit says.
Over the next 12 minutes, Barrioz led officers on a winding chase where authorities say she ran stop signs, ignored red traffic lights, sped around other vehicles, drove on the wrong side of the road and forced motorists to swerve to avoid collisions.
About five minutes into the pursuit — which included officers on the ground and in the air — law enforcement reported “items being thrown out” of the car’s passenger door, the affidavit says. Barrioz’s passenger then jumped out and tried to run away but police stopped him.
She bailed from the moving car after that.
‘Lasting difference’
Barrioz then ran into a commercial building at 8447 E. 35th St. North through an open garage door and stole a 2024 Ford Transit F350 Van that had keys in it, according to police.
The affidavit says Barrioz swerved into oncoming traffic after taking off with the van and “appeared to speed up quickly as multiple vehicles were approaching” about the time a passing police car turned to follow her.
She struck Buckwalter nearly head-on at 12:38 p.m.
Buckwalter and Barrioz both swerved to try to avoid crashing, according to the affidavit. But the transit van struck the left front corner of Buckwalter’s car.
Buckwalter was pronounced dead about 20 minutes later, the affidavit says.
Loved ones and coworkers of Buckwalter’s have called her a cherished friend and colleague “who made a lasting difference in the lives of the children” she interacted with at Heartspring, where she served as a home assistant supervisor in the therapeutic school. She worked at the organization for three years and loved traveling, The Eagle previously reported.
Barrioz got out of the wrecked transit van and tried to run but she had a broken left knee and police caught her on a nearby sidewalk, the affidavit says.
She was booked into the Sedgwick County Jail on Oct. 29 after she received treatment at a Wichita hospital.
‘Call it off’
In a police interview, Barrioz said she hit the police car in the Walmart parking lot when she tried to put the stolen Ford Escape in park and took off because “her adrenaline kicked in,” the affidavit says.
She told police one of the men with her was mad because “he had fentanyl, methamphetamine and other drugs on him.” She also said she was scared and wasn’t supposed to be around the man because she was a witness in a court case he is associated with, according to the document.
Asked why she drove in the wrong traffic lanes, Barrioz said her companion told her it would force police to call off their chase.
“I was thinking that you guys were gonna call it off and I was going to be ok,” the affidavit says she told police.
