Bakersfield.com reports that a woman is facing DUI murder charges after a fatal crash earlier this month that took the life of a brother and sister and their dog.
Court documents indicate that on the morning of December 8, 2021, Lisa Core, 46, went to the Kaiser Permanente Pharmacy on Ming Avenue to pick up her prescriptions. Shortly after receiving her medications, Core took some of them. The drugs she took may have included Gabapentin, Clonazepam, and Divalproex.
Approximately 30 minutes later, while heading westbound on Panama Lane in Bakersfield, Core rammed her vehicle into a second car. The vehicle was carrying two siblings, as well as their family dog. The brother and sister were going to pick up their youngest sibling from a bus stop near her school.
Eyewitnesses to the crash said that Core’s gold Buick LaCrosse crossed into the eastbound lanes of Panama, jumped a curb, and crashed into the victim’s car. The Buick became lodged between a brick wall and a utility pole carrying power lines to area residents and businesses. The collision also took out a water main that gushed water 30 feet into the air.
The 19-year-old boy and his 9-year-old sister reportedly died at the scene.
Core has no memory of the accident and told police officers responding to the crash scene that the medication must have made her drowsy. She was arrested at the scene with the initial charge of 2 counts of DUI manslaughter.
Bakersfield Police Department investigators found medications scattered all over Core’s Buick LaCrosse and a 24 ounce can of Tecate on the ground next to Core’s vehicle.
A Kern County Judge upgraded the manslaughter charges to two counts of DUI murder after discovering that Core already had two counts of DUI and a suspended license at the time of the December 8 crash.
Core is due back in court on January 11, 2022, for a pre-preliminary hearing.
