The Pepperdine Four Case (Outline)
A basic outline of the tragic events that led to the death of four young Pepperdine students, and the trial that looms on the horizon.
Here it is, guys…
An outline of the heartbreaking tragedy that killed four young Pepperdine students in Malibu back in 2023.
Like all cases…
Details are layered within a storyline, and not all things can be covered in one article.
But — we’ll get to it all as best we can as the trial looms on the horizon.
It’s important that we understand and really get to know who the victims were, as well as grasp the legal aspects of the case. Friends & advocates of the victims will be joining me both on Monday and Tuesday this week so we can deep dive into it, as well as answer any pending questions you guys may have.
Make sure to set your calendar reminder if you don’t want to miss the live.
(click on the times below for the link)
Ok. Let’s get into it…
OUTLINE OF THE CASE:
On October 17, 2023 (at around 8:30 pm), four vibrant, young female Pepperdine students were on their way to a sorority mixer event located not far from their school in Malibu, CA.
ASHA, DESLYN, NIAHM, and PEYTON.
The females exited their vehicle after parallel parking along the scenic beach road known as PCH (Pacific Coast Highway). The road is lined with residential housing on both sides, and is designated for parking along the street.
As the females began walking west on the north shoulder of the road, a 22-year old male driver, Fraser Bohm, came barreling down the curvy road going west at an extremely high speed in his vehicle.
Fraser’s BMW side-swiped and crashed into parallel parked cars along the roadside where the females were walking, ultimately killing all four of them on impact.
The speed limit is 45 MPH in this location, and the state claims that the driver’s vehicle techstream data shows that the defendant accelerated up to 104 mph moments before impact. His vehicle set off 3 trigger data points of collision as he collided into multiple cars.
(Defense is arguing that the state’s claims of Bohm driving at 104 mph speed is false. It appears their argument is that the wheels increased to that speed when spinning while potentially airborne mid-collision. They also spent time in the preliminary hearing splitting hairs over literally ‘half a second’ regarding velocity speed change. I will cover this in another article since it will clearly play a large role in the trial.)
In CA, driving over 100 mph can be charged as a felony, so I suspect the defense is really trying to get Fraser’s speed data to fall under the 3-digit number as an effort to discount the 2nd degree murder charges.
Here is part of the state’s motion explaining the techstream info they assert shows Bohm was driving at a criminal speed.
When Bohm’s vehicle came to a halt after hitting the parked cars (and 4 female pedestrians), it’s reported that a witness pulled him out of the vehicle, and several people held him down until the officers showed up. (I’m unclear on the specifics of this part of the narrative at the moment, but we will uncover the details in an upcoming article).
Fraser Bohm was interviewed on-scene by law enforcement, and then brought into the sheriff’s station for a second interview.
Both interviews are on camera, and sources say he never mentions escaping or fleeing from a road rage incident during these interviews. According to an advocate of the victims, the ‘I-was-fleeing-from-another-driver’ narrative first arose 8 days later when Bohm’s attorney spoke with a local radio show.
Bohm’s attorney told the radio station that Bohm did tell law enforecement that the other driver pushed him off the side of the roadway. (This should be easy to prove or disprove because the interviews are recorded). Bohm’s attorney also claims they have proof that the other driver admitted being responsible of steering Bohm off the road to his family member.
(Unfortuantely, I’ve learned to have low expectations in claims made by defense attorneys who market their cases on radio shows, so we shall see if the evidence he speaks about is tangible and validated, or just a fancy game of semantics.)
You can find that radio clip HERE if you want to listen.
Bohm claims that shortly before the crash he was texting on his phone while at a stoplight.
Bohm says the driver in the other lane (Victor) began screaming at him, and when the light turned green, Bohm took off. He says he was chased by the other driver. The other driver tried to drive his vehicle off the side of the road, thus causing the sequence of events of the collision.
Victor has a very different story. He says Bohm was driving recklessly prior to arriving at the red light, and when they both came to a stop, he saw Bohm texting. Victor allegedly yelled at him to slow down and get off his phone. The moment the light turned green, Bohm sped off very fast. Soon after, Bohm crashed into the parked cars — killing the 4 pedestrians.
Defense claims it is actually the other driver, Victor, who is the dangerous one who set off the sequence of events, and that he has a history of angry driving. Bohm was just speeding away to escape.
A source who attended the preliminary hearing tells me that the video(s) played in court contradicts the pro-defense narrative being shared online. We will be discussing the video(s) on the upcoming interviews on Monday and Tuesday evening.
Defendant Fraser Bohm
Other details that we know:
Fraser Bohm, the defendant, had just turned 22 years old the day before he caused the tragic accident.
There are no allegations of alcohol or drugs in his system.
Bohm has no prior criminal history.
Fraser is familiar with this area, and is well-aware of how pedestrian-heavy PCH is at that location. He is noted as saying in a police interview that he drives PCH all the time, and that he knows it like the back of his hand.
This area of PCH is known as ‘Dead Man’s Curve’ because the road is curvy and quite active, and has incurred many vehicle accidents in the past. Speeding in this area is very dangerous.
Fraser mentioned in his interview that he knows ‘speed kills’, and he has had two friends die in motor vehicle accidents from speeding.
A court document shares a stipulation showing that no texts were made at the exact time of the accident.
Fraser Bohm is out on a 4 million dollar bond, and has hired multiple attorneys including high-priced Attorney Alan Jackson. Jackson represented clients like Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, and Karen Read.
Join us Monday and Tuesday as friends close to the victims help us go deeper into the details of the case, as well as a shine a light on the four beautiful women the world lost in 2023.