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• Maiden Rock woman charged in fatal Pierce County collision
• Transcript of 911 tape from Prescott house explosion

By Jen Cullen, Staff Writer

A Maiden Rock woman was charged last week with two counts of vehicular homicide for her role in a fatal crash last summer.

Blood tests show that Kristin Baum, 18, had morphine, methamphetamine and amphetamine in her system the night of the crash. She is accused of cresting a hill, crossing the center line and hitting Gladys Jakes' vehicle head-on, according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday in Pierce County Court.

Authorities, the complaint states, also allegedly found marijuana, meth, a medication to treat excessive sleepiness, and drug paraphernalia in the vehicle Baum was driving.

The crash happened June 21, 2006 in Maiden Rock Township on 160th Avenue.

Authorities found two vehicles at the scene and Jakes trapped in her car. The driver of the other vehicle appeared to have fled the scene, according to the complaint.

Jakes, also from Maiden Rock, eventually was freed from her mangled vehicle while her husband stood nearby. He was told of the crash by a neighbor who saw his wife's wrecked car.

The 64-year-old was taken to Regions Hospital in St. Paul where she died early the next morning.

Authorities combed the area searching for victims from the other vehicle. Deputies, according to the complaint, eventually made their way north of the crash to a home where they found fresh blood trails and smears of blood on a door.

Along with a paramedic, a deputy and his K-9 partner approached the scene and heard a cry for help, according to the compliant.

The paramedic entered the residence and found Baum inside with serious injuries.

According to the complaint, Baum allegedly told authorities in a subsequent interview, she crawled from the scene to the house and attempted to use the telephone.

Baum, whose driving privileges in Wisconsin were revoked at the time of the crash, said she did not remember the events leading up to the crash, according to the complaint.

Baum faces a maximum of 35 years in prison and a $125,000 fine if convicted of both charges.

She is scheduled to make her initial appearance at 10 a.m. March 19 in Ellsworth at the Pierce County Courthouse.

A quiet Saturday evening in the Pierce County Dispatch Center went from the routine to bedlam in seconds as frenzied citizens, off-duty officers and family called in to report or learn about the major explosion that claimed the life of Lisa Villigan on Feb. 17 in Prescott.

An hour-long tape released Friday by the Lt. Mike Knoll captured about nine minutes of the harried activity handled by three jailer-dispatchers that Saturday night.

That single event represented 10 percent of total dispatches for the entire 24-hour period, according to statistics for the day.

"It takes the right personality," said Sheriff Nancy Hove of jailer-dispatchers Holly Chumas, Diane Dubois and Phil Meixner, who were on duty that night. "Everyone I've talked to commented on how well the dispatchers did."

The narrative is a hodge-podge of in-and outbound calls, radio traffic between dispatchers, officers, fire and ambulance units, and exchanges with the public.

What follows is a transcription of the tape provided by the sheriff's department.

The first clue something was amiss came at 8:50 p.m. when dispatcher Diane Dubois received a hang-up on 911 from an apartment just doors away from the accident site at 1010 Pearl Street.

She'd dispatched a Prescott officer to check it out when the first report of Villigan's crash came in from a neighbor at 610 James St.

Caller: "Holy s___ ..." said the caller before Dubois could speak.

Dispatcher: "Pierce County 911..."

Caller: "Yeah- Hi-ya. There's been an accident right next to our house here."

Dispatcher: "Where do you live?"

Caller: "610 James?"

Dispatcher: "What kind of an accident?"

Caller: "Ah...a vehicle hit a house."

Dispatcher: "OK. Do they need an ambulance?

Caller: "I'm not sure but it really smells like gas."

Dispatcher: "OK," said the dispatcher, keying her mike. "2400 car, I've got the 911 caller back on the line. 610 James St. A vehicle hit a house. He said it smells like gas. I'm going to page the fire and ambulance ..."

Caller: "Yeah - the occupant is still in the vehicle it looks like.

Dispatcher: "OK. Hold on -", she said, paging out fire and ambulance at 8:51 p.m., while visiting with the caller. "Are you walkin' out there?"

Caller: "We're standing away from it 'cause it really - "

She released the caller and alerted Prescott police, already in the area, then both fire and ambulance again.

Soon other calls arrived. Dispatcher Phil Meixner answered a transfer call from Dakota County's 911 dispatcher -

Dispatcher: "Maam? Go ahead with Prescott."

Caller: "1010 Pearl Street, right behind Jimmy's Pizza."

Dispatcher: "Anybody hurt?"

Caller: "Yes. There's two people trapped inside the vehicle. It's halfway in to the house and they've busted the gas lines and there's gas coming. They can't get out!"

Dispatcher: "OK. The fire department's been paged. OK? Thank you."

Prescott officer Ben Henrich announced that he'd arrived and could see "a truck in the house."

He exited his squad before the dispatcher could get a clarification from him.

Ambulance and fire were paged a third time. Sirens could be heard as Henrich called in an update.

Offier Henrich: "Might have the gas meter in the house. There are two people still in the truck. 10-4 at 1010 Pearl. There's a strong odor of natural gas in the house..."

Another officer arrived as dispatchers asked other officers to clear Pierce County's primary radio frequency.

Dispatcher: "2400 can you give me an update on the truck?"

Officer Henrich: "Trying to check the status of the driver," Henrich replied, giving Dubois with the truck's license number.

Heard on radio: 'Officer down!'

While she repaged the ambulance again, a frantic voice could be heard in the background, announcing the explosion and "officer down". Dubois immediately passed that on to EMT's in her next sentence, calling for "all EMS (personnel)."

Prescott fire was repaged a fourth time.

Dispatcher: "Prescott fire department we do have an officer down from an explosion.. an officer down from an explosion, next to 610 James Street .. next to 610 James St," the dispatcher said.

Dispatcher: "2426, 2710, explosion, officer down, repeat officer down!"

Dispatcher: "Pierce County 911" (Another incoming call)

Caller: "Ah, there was some sort of an explosion ---," the caller shouted.

Dispatcher: "Yes. We're aware of it. Help is on the way," said Meixner.

Another 911 caller had hung up when Meixner answered it.

Get the full transcript on the Pierce County Herald Web site by clicking Pierce County Herald or by going to www.piercecountyherald.com