Kimberly Linton broke down on the stand Monday as she recounted her sister’s unraveling behavior in the minutes before a catastrophic crash.
Nicole Linton, 39, the traveling nurse accused of murdering six people by speeding her Mercedes through a red light at 130 mph, placed five video calls while driving on Aug. 4, 2022, according to testimony from her oldest sister. The calls came just before Linton’s vehicle tore through the intersection of La Brea and Slauson avenues in Los Angeles, triggering an explosive multi-car pileup.
Kimberly described Nicole’s face during one call as “confused” while she spoke in “gibberish” and “complete nonsense.” The six-minute conversation included a jarring declaration that Nicole would be marrying Will Smith, with instructions for Kimberly to “meet me at the altar.”
Defense attorney Jovan Blacknell told the court that Nicole also made a disjointed reference to Kimberly’s daughter in Philadelphia, saying: “pack a lunch for daughter I’m going to take her to school.”
Kimberly immediately phoned her other sister, Camille, after the strange exchange — at roughly the same moment Nicole slammed into traffic. The emotional call, played in court, devolved into recrimination. Kimberly blamed Camille for “triggering Nicole” by texting her days earlier during a volatile conversation.
“You know she’s not well,” Kimberly said during the recorded exchange.
Camille fired back at her crying sister: “I don’t know she’s not well I’ll never text her again.”
The testimony revealed a pattern of disturbing conduct in the days preceding the crash. Kimberly told jurors that Nicole had been “cleaning obsessively” and once “popped up” naked during a video call, catching her sister off guard.
“The behavior was unusual,” she testified.
The crash claimed the lives of Asherey Ryan, 23, who was more than eight months pregnant; her unborn son Armani; her 11-month-old son Alonzo Quintero; her boyfriend Reynold Lester; and two women in another vehicle, Nathesia Lewis, 42, and Lynette Noble, 38. Ryan’s family said she had been en route to a prenatal appointment.
Prosecutor Brittany Vannoy described the carnage in opening statements, telling jurors: “The baby was ripped from her womb,” She added that medical examiners would testify that the victims’ bodies “were incinerated.” The graphic detail, paired with video of Ryan’s unborn baby following the wreck, prompted relatives of the victims to storm from the courtroom. Additional graphic photos of burned bodies caused further walkouts.
A separate emotional episode unfolded during testimony from Tonya Boyd, who attempted CPR on baby Alonzo using a gas station convenience store counter as a makeshift emergency station. Linton, who had been wiping away tears, let out a loud gasp and began sobbing uncontrollably. The judge immediately cleared the jury and demanded the defendant “compose herself.”
Boyd later continued, telling the restored panel: “There was blood coming from the baby’s neck.” She described the infant as feeling “limp, mushy and not alive.” A photo shown to jurors depicted the 11-month-old sprawled across the counter amid gum and candy displays, drawing more tears from gallery family members.
Linton faces six counts of murder and a potential life sentence after prosecutors dropped five counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence before trial. Her defense maintains she suffered a seizure and lost control of her vehicle. She waived her right to testify Monday as the defense rested its case.
The trial, which has exposed raw grief on all sides, is expected to reach the jury later this week or next.