The Slauson Six have received justice as the jury convicted Nicole Lorraine Linton on six counts of second-degree murder. In August 2022, Linton was speeding through the intersection of Slauson and La Brea, running a red light, which caused the horrific accident that claimed the lives of six people, including a pregnant woman and an infant.
The six people killed in the crash included four members of one family: 23-year-old Asherey Ryan, the child she was pregnant with, her boyfriend, 24-year-old Reynold Lester, the father of her unborn son, and her infant son, Alonzo, who was about to celebrate his first birthday.
Also killed during the crash were 38-year-old Lynette Noble and 43-year-old Nathesia Lewis.
“This was not an accident,” Ryan’s sister, Shaseana Kerr, said after the verdict was announced. “This was someone who wanted to take herself out and others with her.”
Surveillance video of the crash showed Linton’s Mercedes speeding through a red light in a 35-mph zone on La Brea Avenue at a speed authorities estimated was about 130 mph and broadsided another vehicle, which exploded into flames. The impact caused the vehicle to crash into at least one other vehicle, and both ended up against a gas station sign on the corner of the intersection.
“I’m so happy that God has given us, has given the families justice. And although she’s (Linton) the one who has to remain in prison, we’ll still all be prisoners of grief because grief doesn’t end,” Kerr said.
Prosecutors said Linton had a history of mental health issues and a problematic driving history, including a lack of a California driver’s license and her involvement in a 2020 traffic collision with bodily injury.
“Justice for our families, for all the innocent lives that were taken, including innocent children. So, this has been a long journey. It’s been extremely hard. So much grief,” Lewis’s sister Jasmond Nelson said. “And even though we have justice, grief doesn’t change; it doesn’t stop.”
