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

By Neal Augenstein
July 23, 2026 | 2:25 PM

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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New rules, new schools greet students returning to class in Montgomery, Prince George鈥檚 counties

By John Domen
Luke Lukert
August 25, 2026 | 4:27 PM

Students headed back to class in Montgomery and Prince George鈥檚 counties Tuesday, starting a new school year with everything from a stricter cellphone policy to renovated athletic facilities and newly opened schools. At James Hubert Blake High School in Montgomery County, Maryland, students streamed in with sleep still in their eyes and phones in their hands, ready for another academic year. Meanwhile, students at Frederick Douglass High School in Prince George鈥檚 County gathered on a newly renovated football field to start the year. Elsewhere in the county, students were welcomed into two new elementary schools. Cellphones go away in Montgomery County