Sedro-Woolley man sentenced in fatal 2024 Halloween crash near Everson
A Sedro-Woolley man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for charges related to a 2024 Halloween night crash that killed a Sumas girl and injured three members of her family in rural Whatcom County.
Tyler Patton Higdon, 31, pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and vehicular assault in Whatcom County Superior Court on Wednesday. Higdon was arrested Oct. 31, 2024 after T-boning a car east of Everson while driving drunk, killing 11-year-old Yaretzi Davila-Estrada and critically injuring her older brother. Her two other siblings in the car also were injured.
Higdon was driving 100 mph where the speed limit was 50 mph, according to court records, and told police he’d had at least five shots of alcohol that night. He failed a field sobriety test and his blood alcohol content measured 0.11 — 0.03 over the legal limit.
Davila-Estrada’s loved ones filled multiple rows of pews in the courtroom Wednesday. Many shared victim impact statements prior to Higdon’s sentencing.
“I replay it in my head every single day,” said Divia Davila-Estrada, Yaretzi’s older sister.
Divia Davila-Estrada was driving a car in front of the one Yaretzi Davila-Estrada was riding in, and saw the crash through her rearview mirror. She said that Higdon only being sentenced to 10 years was like a “slap in the face,” and was not the only family member to ask the judge to impose the maximum sentence allowable by law.
Adela and Lorenzo Davila-Estrada, who were both in the car when the crash occurred, spoke of the trauma they deal with on a daily basis. Adela Davila-Estrada said she doesn’t drive anymore, and still thinks of her younger sister whenever she enjoys something.
She said she remembers seeing her siblings injured in the car and realizing Lorenzo Davila-Estrada, then 18, missing from the vehicle. He was thrown from the car in the crash and taken to the hospital with a fractured skull.
He said at Higdon’s sentencing that he still deals with pain and other impacts of his traumatic brain injury.
“We didn’t ask for any of this,” he said.
Yaretzi Davila-Estrada had dreams of becoming a teacher, her mother, Jessica Estrada, told the court. She had tutored pre-K students at school. Adela Davila-Estrada said Yaretzi wanted to go to Harvard and travel.
“She had a bright future,” Jessica Estrada said.
Higdon apologized to the family before the judge imposed his sentence.
“From the bottom of my heart, I am so sorry,” Higdon said.
Judge Lee Grochmal followed the agreed sentencing recommendation of 10 years in prison followed by 18 months in community custody. She said she was comforted to see how the family supports one other, and acknowledged that by pleading guilty, Higdon spared them from the trauma of a trial.
At the same time, she said the sentence does not reflect the value of Yaretzi Davila-Estrada’s life or its impact.
“It’s not going to ever go away,” Grochmal said. “But it’ll get easier.”
This story was originally published October 22, 2025 at 11:11 AM.