BOISE, Idaho — A Boise woman charged with killing another woman in a crash on Highway 55 in 2022 changed her plea to guilty Thursday morning.
Natalie Hodson, 39, is charged with vehicular manslaughter and leaving the scene of an injury crash in the death of 39-year-old Kristina Rowley of Cascade on Aug. 9, 2022.
Hodson had been scheduled to go to trial next month on the charges.
A witness called 911 to report the crash at 9:21 p.m. that night on Highway 55 between Beacon Light and Seamans Gulch Road. Police said Hodson struck Rowley with her minivan while the victim was standing off the side of the road to check the back of her trailer. Deputies found Rowley badly injured and began first aid. Paramedics took her to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead a short time later.
Witnesses told investigating deputies that the driver, later identified as Hodson, kept driving north after the collision. One of the witnesses followed her for a short distance before she pulled over on Suttle Lake Drive. The Ada County Sheriff's Office said deputies interviewed Hodson there and collected evidence from the scene as well as where Hodson had stopped before they arrested her.
In an previous court hearing, prosecutors said Hodson told deputies she thought she had hit a mailbox and had drank four alcoholic seltzers earlier.
Online court records indicate Hodson has been cited for and found guilty of speeding three times, in March 2022 in Ada County, February 2017 in Boise County and June 2010 in Valley County.
Hodson has a large following on social media as an online business coach, author, public speaker and podcaster. Her Facebook page indicates more than 466,000 followers on that platform; more than 85,000 follow her on Instagram. However, neither account has been updated since the crash.
In 2019, KTVB featured her as part of a weeklong series on Treasure Valley Instagram Stars.
Hodson pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter Thursday morning. The charge of leaving the scene of an injury crash appears to have been dropped, according to Idaho court records.
She is scheduled to be sentenced on March 7.
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