A 20-year-old Edmonds woman was identified as the driver who died on Interstate 5 Saturday morning after swerving to avoid a mattress in the roadway near the 220th Street Southwest exit in Mountlake Terrace.
According to the Washington State Patrol, Yohana M. Ayele of Edmonds died at the scene. She was driving her Nissan sedan northbound on Interstate 5 at 6:38 a.m. when she struck the mattress, which had fallen off a truck just a few minutes earlier. After hitting the mattress, the vehicle swerved in front of a semitruck — driven by a 33-year-old Surrey, British Columbia, man. The semi struck the Nisssan on the driver’s side door, and both vehicles came to a rest in the freeway’s grass median. Ayele died at the scene, the state patrol said.
The state patrol is searching for a pickup truck that lost the mattress just prior to the crash. It is described as a small, older, dark-colored pickup with wood-sided bed racks carrying miscellaneous household items. Anyone with any information about the truck or its occupants is asked to contact Washington State Patrol Detective Dan Komnick at 360-654-1204.
Because of someone’s careless actions, a beloved daughter didn’t come home on Saturday. I am sure the semi driver is traumatized as well. As sad as this incident is, we need to learn from it. SECURE YOUR LOADS. It is the law.
My beautiful friend, may Jehovah be with her family, what a nightmare!
Our family are close friends of Yohana.
We want to know if anything has been found out about the unsecured pickup.
We haven’t heard any updates.
Please remember this story the next time you see 2 people trying to hold a mattress on the roof of their car. Call WSP and get them off the road.