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Driver pleads guilty in crash that killed 85-year-old woman in Silver Spring

A driver who caused a 2025 crash in Silver Spring, Maryland, that killed an 85-year-old woman on her way home from church has pleaded guilty.

Jesica Argueta, 23, of Silver Spring pleaded guilty Wednesday to vehicular manslaughter by gross negligence and one count of second-degree assault for causing the crash that killed Josephine Gieske, who was riding in the passenger seat of a Toyota 4Runner, and seriously injured the driver.

Montgomery County police and prosecutors said Argueta was driving her Toyota GR86 at speeds up to 84 miles per hour in a 40-mph zone. Argueta admitted she was weaving through morning rush hour traffic when she hit the vehicle Gieske was riding in as it attempted to turn left from Randolph Road onto Sherwood Forest Drive.

Argueta faces a maximum of 20 years in prison. She’ll be sentenced Sept. 16.

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