A North Carolina substitute teacher has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the deaths of two teenage boys who died in an all-terrain vehicle crash last year, authorities announced.
Ashley Marie Darity, 34, was arrested Feb. 13 and charged with two counts of felony involuntary manslaughter in the Aug. 25 ATV accident that killed Layne Jones and Jayden Reynaldo, the Alcohol Law Enforcement division of the state Department of Public Safety said.
Jones and Reynaldo were football players at Rosman High School in Transylvania County, about 40 miles southwest of Asheville.
The teens were driving an ATV on Old Wagon Road in Transylvania County around 1 a.m. Aug. 25 when they went off the road, hit a tree and were ejected from the vehicle. They were pronounced dead at the scene, The Asheville Citizen-Times reported.
The ALE said Tuesday that speed and alcohol are believed to have been factors in the crash.
ALE special agents arrested Darity. Officials did not disclose details of her relationship to the students or what led to the charges.
Darity was a substitute teacher in the Transylvania County Schools District, which includes Rosman, from October 2021 to December 2023, district spokesperson Tessa Brown said.
She was released from custody after she posted $20,000 bond, according to online court filings. An attorney for her did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Two other people were arrested in the investigation, as well: Brandon Kaine Rathbone, 47, and Patricia Faye Whitehead, 33, both of Balsam Grove. It is not immediately clear whether the two have lawyers.
They were arrested and charged with aiding and abetting a person less than 21 years of age in the possession and/or consumption of alcoholic beverages. The Public Safety Department said their arrests were "based on a previous incident discovered during this investigation that occurred at the same residence."
A warrant for arrest for Rathbone said the date of offense was June 10, 2023. The warrant alleged he purchased a keg and hosted an underage house party. He and Whitehead are alleged to have held a girl up to do a keg stand to consume the alcohol.
Whitehead’s warrant further alleged she purchased Twisted Tea for a person under age 21 in February 2023.
The investigation into the crash continues.
The school district said in a news release on Aug. 25 that two Rosman students died in an accident, calling the deaths “an unimaginable loss.” Rosman High School also shared photos of the two athletes in their football uniforms, writing: “Layne and Jayden have left an imprint on our hearts. We grieve together.”