Portland driver who killed 19-year-old passenger while high on meth gets 7 years in prison

Heaven Leigh Mathews

Mathews, 19, died when the driver of a car she was in fled from police and crashed into a pole.The Mathews family/Multnomah County District Attorney's Office

A man was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison after he crashed a stolen car in Portland while high on meth, killing his passenger, then fled the crash scene.

Adam Valle

Adam Valle (Multnomah County Sheriff's Office)

Adam Valle, 27, of Portland pleaded guilty to one count each of second-degree manslaughter, unauthorized use of a vehicle, fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer and driving under the influence of intoxicants. The crash killed 19-year-old Heaven Leigh Mathews, who was Valle’s passenger.

In addition to his 85-month prison sentence, Valle will have three years of post-prison supervision and will have to pay $45,000 in restitution to Mathews’ family. His driving privileges will be permanently revoked.

Portland police say that around 11 p.m. March 9, 2019, an officer tried to stop a car around Southeast 124th and Southeast Sherman Street after seeing the driver commit several traffic violations. The driver refused to pull over, and police discovered the car was stolen. Police said Valle was driving extremely dangerously and did not pursue him. Officers continued to look for the car and eventually found it on Southeast Division Street and Southeast 122nd Avenue. Valle had crashed it into a steel light pole and was going so fast that half of the car had been impaled by the pole, police say. Paramedics tried to give her medical attention, but Mathews died at the scene.

Police said witnesses saw Valle limp away from the scene and found him about a block away. Police said that he had likely been on a days-long methamphetamine binge with little to no sleep. When medics told him his passenger had died, he started laughing.

Court documents also say that Valle asked officers to kill him and said he’s “gonna be in prison for a while.”

Mathews’ family said they were satisfied with the sentence, and said they want to support Valle during his time in custody so that he could re-enter society successfully.

But they also talked about the blow to their family.

“It has devastated us,” said Mathews’ father, Gary Mathews, in court. “Heaven was an incredible person. She was able to be friends to so many people. She was such a kind heart.”

The owner of the car that Valle stole also gave the court a victim impact statement and said that the car theft caused a chain-reaction of problems, not just in her life. She said the car, which was paid off, was her only mode of transportation. When she and her husband had to buy a new one, it made them fall behind on rent, and they are now facing the threat of eviction.

“This has all trickled down from the theft of my Subaru,” she said. “In the end, a young woman lost her life, a young man stands before the court ready for sentencing and my husband and I are facing being homeless. No one wins in this tragic story.”

