Family, friends donate more than $1.5k to cover funeral expenses

Friends and family of an 18-year-old Santa Rosa woman killed in a suspected DUI crash on New Year’s Day have donated over $1,500 to cover her funeral expenses.

Michajla Bailey Kostecka was pronounced dead at the scene of the solo crash in Santa Rosa at around 11 p.m.

The silver Chevrolet Cavalier had crashed into a tree and come to a rest on the sidewalk of Mountain Hawk Drive at Branch Owl Place, police said.

Some 24 people have donated $1,550 as of this morning. Organizers are hoping to raise $5,000 for the funeral.

Kostecka’s sister-in-law, Yvonne Falk Bailey of Oakland, wrote on the GoFundMe page, which can be found at https://www.gofundme.com/rest-easy-michajla:

“She was so bold and loud. Michajla definitely lived her life to the fullest.”

Bailey wrote:

“She went to parties, had adventures, was always doing something new. She was a wild child. It was never boring with her.”

The 19-year-old driver, Santa Rosa resident Rebecca Iris Guillory, was arrested on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol while causing great bodily injury, police said.

After being treated at the hospital for minor injuries, Guillory was booked into Sonoma County Jail and will make her first court appearance at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday. She is being held on $100,000 bail.