Released from prison, he crashed 3 stolen vehicles. He’s going back after a woman died

A 25-year-old man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for crashing a stolen SUV into a car and killing its driver as he sped through a stop sign in Eastside Tacoma in September.

Tyler Townsend was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty Jan. 27 to vehicular homicide, failure to remain at an accident resulting in death and two counts related to motor vehicle theft, Pierce County court records show.

Townsend, who has a lengthy criminal record, had been out of prison for less than a year when he stole a 2022 Kia Sportage in Puyallup and, a day later, crashed into a 2014 Dodge Avenger shortly after 3 p.m. at East 34th and D streets, according to court records.

The stolen SUV was traveling 62 mph when it struck the front driver-side of the Avenger, causing the SUV to roll over onto its roof. Both vehicles came to rest in a yard and planting strip. A Tacoma police officer described the crash as “a catastrophic collision,” according to a charging document filed against Townsend.

The driver of the Avenger, 31-year-old Jenessa Sjogren, was pronounced dead at the scene. Her vehicle had Texas plates, authorities said.

When officers arrived, the SUV was empty. Townsend left behind only a cell phone and an Adidas shoe upon fleeing, according to the charging document. Officers spoke to witnesses and reviewed surveillance video, including one at the Puyallup retirement home from where the SUV had been stolen. Roughly two weeks after the crash, authorities received an anonymous tip from a family member of Townsend’s.

The investigation homed in on Townsend, who had been hospitalized in Vancouver, Washington, following a separate, later crash — this one involving a stolen vehicle on Interstate 5. Authorities visited Townsend at the hospital where they conducted cheek swabs to test DNA. Townsend reportedly became emotional when learning that the victim in the Tacoma crash had died.

“(Townsend) said he wanted the family of the deceased driver to know that it was not intentional,” a detective reported, according to the charging document.

Townsend, who reportedly told authorities that he struggled with methamphetamine addiction, was previously sentenced to more than seven years in prison following a 2017 conviction for 19 felonies, including vehicle theft, eluding police and first-degree burglary, according to court records and prior reporting from The News Tribune.

Within three months of being released from prison, he was back in trouble.

Townsend crashed a stolen vehicle in Pierce County in January 2022. He was charged with possession of a stolen vehicle and obstructing an officer in that case and released on $75,000 bail, court records show.

Those charges were dismissed as part of the plea bargain in the vehicular homicide case, according to court records.