Man pleads guilty in 2022 fatal Payne Co. crash

PAYNE COUNTY, Okla. (KFOR) - A man has pleaded guilty in connection to a fatal crash in 2022 that left two people dead.

On October 15, 2022, Stillwater Police investigators say that then-18-year-old Luke Christopher House was driving a white Ford Mustang eastbound in the westbound lanes of State Highway 51 towards Country Club Road around 4:15 a.m.

That's when he struck Virginia Winston and Jeremi Smith, who were in their red Chevy Impala in the outside westbound lane.

“The Ford Mustang struck the Chevy Impala head on,” said the Stillwater Police Department. “The Ford Mustang continued traveling eastbound and debris from the Mustang struck an occupied parked vehicle in the parking lot at OnCue and several unoccupied vehicles in an adjacent dealership parking lot.”

According to police, House was traveling at 150 mph when he struck Winston's vehicle.

Officials say House was flown from the scene to Saint Francis and was released on Sunday, Oct. 16, while Winston was flown to OU Medical Center.

The passengers of both vehicles, 18-year-old Ryan Begnaud of Austin, TX, and 40-year-old Smith of Oklahoma City, were killed.

On December 4, 2023, House pleaded guilty and was sentenced to serve a term of 40 years in custody with the last 20 years suspended in regards to the crash.