Advertisement

37-year-old Boise social media influencer arrested after fatal hit-and-run on Idaho 55

A Boise woman has been arrested and charged after a hit-and-run accident on Idaho 55 north of Eagle left one person dead Monday night.

Natalie Hodson, 37, was driving a minivan north of Beacon Light Road and south of Seamans Gulch Road when she allegedly struck a 39-year-old woman who had pulled over to check on the trailer she was hauling behind her pickup truck, according to a Tuesday news release from the Ada County Sheriff’s Office.

The accident occurred just after 9 p.m. on the highway near Hidden Springs, the release said.

The sheriff’s office release said that Hodson — a social media lifestyle influencer who has more 450,000 Facebook followers and over 90,000 Instagram followers — fled the scene and kept driving north, and a witness followed her vehicle until she pulled over on Suttle Lake Drive to the east of Idaho 55.

Court documents obtained by the Idaho Statesman indicated that Hodson faces felony charges of vehicular manslaughter and leaving the scene of an injury accident. The documents also indicated that she was drinking while driving.

Hodson’s preliminary court appearance took place in Ada County on Tuesday afternoon, and her bail was set at $50,000. The prosecution said in court that she initially denied drinking or hitting anything, but during an interview with Ada County sheriff’s deputies at the Eagle Fire Department, she admitted she drank four alcoholic seltzers and thought she hit a mailbox.

Hodson’s bail conditions also include that she remain in Ada County or Boise County until her case is closed; that she not possess or consume illegal drugs or alcohol; and that she not operate a motor vehicle.

She faces up to 15 years in prison and a $15,000 fine for vehicular manslaughter and up to 5 years in prison and a $5,000 fine for leaving the scene.

The documents from the Ada County prosecutor’s office identified the victim as Kristina Rowley. The Ada County coroner confirmed her identity in a report Tuesday afternoon and said Rowley was from Cascade.

Paramedics transported Rowley to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead early Tuesday morning, according to the coroner’s report.

During Hodson’s preliminary court appearance on Tuesday, the prosecution said Rowley’s 16-year-old son was in the pickup truck at the time of the crash. He was not injured, according to the sheriff’s office release.