Fawn woman accused of vehicular homicide
A Fawn woman with a history of driving with a suspended driver's license is now accused of causing the death of a Harrison man from injuries he suffered in a July 2014 wreck along Route 28 in East Deer.
Rachel Rebecca Bailie, 25, whose last known address was Snyder Lane, Fawn, is accused of felony vehicle homicide of John P. Jaycox, of Wood Street, Harrison. He was 62 at the time of his death, which occurred in February, about seven months after the wreck.
Authorities said the trauma Jaycox suffered left him a quadriplegic and ultimately led to his death.
State police allege Bailie acted “recklessly or with gross negligence.”
In addition to vehicular homicide, Bailie is charged with driving with a suspended license, and not staying in the proper lane of traffic, according to arrest papers filed by state police.
Records show Bailie pleaded guilty to three other incidents of driving with a suspended license — twice before the July 2014 wreck and once four months after it.
At the time of the Route 28 wreck, Bailie was sought on separate arrest warrants by Frazer and East Deer police for driving with a suspended license in March and April 2014, respectively.
State records show Bailie was involved in another accident in November in Frazer, for which she pleaded guilty to driving with her license suspended, failing to report the accident and filing false reports.
Bailie was arraigned on the homicide and other charges Sunday and placed in the Allegheny County Jail in lieu of $20,000 bond.
She remained there Monday in lieu of bond pending a preliminary hearing tentatively scheduled for Friday.
Jaycox, who was then 61, was paralyzed in the July 10, 2014 accident. He died about seven months later at 62.
State police allege in her arrest papers that Bailie had just gotten onto Route 28 southbound from the Creighton on-ramp when she was distracted by her two young children.
The Chevy Tahoe that Bailie was driving slammed into Jaycox's disabled car, which was parked along the berm just south of the on-ramp on a clear, sunny day.
Jaycox was sitting on the trunk of his 1988 Cutlass waiting for help to change his tire, according to police.
The impact compacted the back half of Jaycox's car and left the Tahoe resting on top of the Cutlass wreckage.
Jaycox died Feb. 24 in a Pittsburgh hospital.
Bailie suffered a facial injury. Her two children, who were then 5 and 1, were not injured.
Jaycox was born in 1952 in Carbondale, Lackawana County.
He lived in the Alle-Kiski Valley for 40 years, working as the maintenance man for a Tarentum assisted living home, a funeral home and a restaurant.
Calls to his family were not returned Monday.
Chuck Biedka is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 724-226-4711 or cbiedka@tribweb.com.
