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A man who is accused of speeding along Pacific Coast Highway and crashing into four Pepperdine University students in 2023 was ordered Wednesday to stand trial on murder and vehicular manslaughter charges.
Fraser Michael Bohm is set to return to the LA Superior courthouse in Van Nuys on July 1 for arraignment on four counts each of murder and vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.
The 23-year-old Malibu resident, who was 20 at the time of deadly collision, drove up to 104 mph on “Dead Man’s Curve,” a section of PCH between Las Flores Canyon and Carbon Canyon Roads, before crashing into the four Pepperdine seniors on the shoulder of the roadway on the night of Oct. 17, according to prosecutors.
The nighttime crash killed Niamh Rolston, 20; Peyton Stewart, 21; Asha Weir, 21; and Deslyn Williams, 21. The seniors at Pepperdine’s Seaver College of Liberal Arts and members of the Alpha Phi sorority received their degrees posthumously.
Bohm, who was initially arrested, then freed from jail and then re-arrested, has been free on bail that was posted shortly after the case was filed against him.
In a videotaped interview with sheriff’s investigators that was played in court Tuesday, Bohm can be heard saying that “it was an accident” and that he felt “awful.” Bohm said he had to swerve after “some guy” in a white car swerved into his lane and struck his driver’s side mirror, resulting in him slamming into the first of the three parked vehicles.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Jim Arens told reporters shortly after the crash that there was “no evidence” the crash stemmed from an alleged road-rage incident.
The tragedy prompted numerous calls to remedy the dangers and minimize speeds along that section of PCH. No safeguards were in place for pedestrians at the crash scene, even though the city has known about the dangers for decades, lawyers for the deceased students’ parents say.
On the one-year anniversary of the tragedy, Malibu officials discussed initiatives to improve safety along PCH, including new legislation authorizing speed cameras at five critical locations and increased enforcement efforts, including the creation of a Malibu CHP Task Force and collaborative operations with the sheriff’s department.
There also are moves underway to redesign PCH. According to the city of Malibu, the long-term plan will “transform PCH from a high-speed highway into a safer, community-focused corridor, providing safe access for all users, including pedestrians, cyclists and drivers.”
Last year, Pepperdine announced a scholarship in honor of victims called the Our Four Angels Endowed Scholarship.
The case has also prompted lawsuits.
The parents of the four students are suing the state, Caltrans, the California Coastal Commission, Los Angeles County and Malibu.
The separately filed Santa Monica Superior Court lawsuits contend that all of those entities share liability for the allegedly dangerous roadway design on that portion of PCH, and for not implementing life-saving safety
measures.
A sheriff’s captain reported that, from 2013-23, there were 53 deaths and 92 serious injuries in the area, and that attempts to improve conditions through law enforcement have had minimal or temporary results, according to the suits.
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