The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Sentencing March 30
By Katherine Nettles
An 18-year-old man has pled guilty to charges of vehicular homicide, three months after being involved in a tragic two-vehicle collision on Highway 135 near Almont. Dylan Blessing-Garcia, a resident of Washington state, was charged with a felony for his actions on November 5, 2025, of passing in a no-passing zone on the highway which led to the head-on collision with an oncoming vehicle and took the life of local Crested Butte resident Heather Cooper.
During a status hearing on February 11, Blessing-Garcia appeared in Gunnison District Court and entered a voluntary guilty plea on the charge of vehicular homicide, a felony. District judge Kellie Starritt ordered that Blessing-Garcia be screened for community corrections facility eligibility, if it is found appropriate.
Blessing-Garcia self-revoked his previous $5,000 surety bond, at the request of the family member who had posted it, and he was taken back into custody. Blessing-Garcia will remain in Gunnison County jail until his sentence hearing. Sentencing is scheduled for March 30 at 9 a.m., with three hours reserved for the hearing.
According to assistant district attorney Jessica Waggoner, representing the state, the minimum sentencing for a felony vehicular homicide charge of this nature is generally between two and six years in prison.
