Driver Charged with Murder Over 154 Crash Pleads Not Guilty

John Roderick Dungan, charged with three counts of murder after California Highway Patrol alleged he intentionally drove into oncoming traffic on Highway 154, has entered a “not guilty” plea. Dungan was originally set to be arraigned in Judge Clifford Anderson’s courtroom on November 8, but his arraignment was postponed to November 20.

On Friday, October 25, Rebecca Vanessa Goss Bley, 34, and her two children, Lucienne Bley Gleason, age 2 years old, and Desmond Bley Gleason, age 4 months, were killed after the suspect allegedly drove headlong into traffic near Cold Spring Bridge. Dungan, it was later revealed, had recently been arrested on gun and stalking charges and had been involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital. On the day of the crash, Santa Barbara authorities were on their way to conduct a welfare check at his home, having received information that he was suicidal and homicidal.

After being released from Cottage Hospital, where he had been airlifted following the crash, Dungan was moved to Santa Barbara County Jail, where he is being held without bail. He is set to return to court on January 31, 2020.