Burnsville woman, who was racing teen brother, gets 15-year prison term for Wisconsin couple’s crash deaths

Nick Ferraro, Pioneer Press
·2 min read
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A 21-year-old woman was sentenced to 15 years in prison Friday after being convicted of murder in a high-speed crash in 2021 in Burnsville that killed a young couple.

Camille Lashay Dennis-Bond of Burnsville was sentenced by Dakota County District Judge Tim Wermager in connection with the crash that killed 22-year-old Tayler Nicole Garza of Woodbury and 22-year-old Dalton Lee Ford of Burnsville.

A Dakota County jury in December convicted Dennis-Bond of two counts of third-degree murder, two counts of criminal vehicular homicide, criminal vehicular operation resulting in great bodily harm and careless driving.

According to court documents, Dennis-Bond was racing against a car driven by her brother, who was 17 at the time. Five seconds before the crash, Leon Bond III reached 114 mph. Leon Bond’s Chrysler 200 T-boned a Honda-CRV — Ford was the driver and Garza, the passenger. Dennis-Bond’s Chevrolet Malibu narrowly missed the Honda.

The collision happened on Dakota County Road 42 near Newton Avenue about 10:30 a.m. April 4, 2021. It was Easter Sunday. The speed limit in the area was 50 mph.

Dennis-Bond and her brother were charged Oct. 28, 2021, after the completion of a Minnesota State Patrol crash reconstruction report. According to court records, Dennis-Bond was cited in September 2021 for driving with a suspended license and the next month for driving 59 mph in a 35-mph zone. She was also cited for speeding three times in 2020.

Last May, Dennis-Bond was cited by the State Patrol for driving 79 mph in a 60-mph zone along Interstate 494 in Minnetonka, court records show.

In January, Leon Bond pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree murder and was given juvenile probation until age 21.

Dakota County District Judge Christopher Lehmann sentenced Bond to 25 years in prison. However, pursuant to extended juvenile jurisdiction, execution of the adult sentence was stayed and Bond was placed on juvenile probation with several conditions, including completion of a long-term program at Red Wing Correctional Facility, according to the attorney’s office.

Ford and Garza, who originally were from Prescott, Wis., regarded each other as the love of their lives, according to their obituaries. Both Ford and Garza worked at Vino in the Valley in Maiden Rock, Wis. — he was a cook and she a bartender. Ford also worked as an auto technician at Luther White Bear Acura and Garza as a team lead at Target in Woodbury.

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