Woman Sentenced to More Than 12 Years for DUI Manslaughter of Local Trans Activist Following 2023 Wrong-Way Downtown Tunnel Crash

NORFOLK, Va. — Dominique Chiqura Goodwin, 27, was sentenced on Tuesday to serve 12 years and four months in prison after she pleaded guilty to aggravated involuntary vehicular manslaughter for driving drunk the wrong way in the Downtown Tunnel and crashing into another car, causing the death of the other driver.

In the early morning hours of Dec. 30, 2023, Ms. Goodwin was driving her 2018 Volkswagen Tiguan in Portsmouth after a night of drinking. At some point, Ms. Goodwin turned the wrong way traveling east onto Bart Street, which is a one-way westbound road and off-ramp from Interstate 264. Because of that wrong turn, Ms. Goodwin continued driving east toward Norfolk into the westbound side of the Downtown Tunnel.

About halfway through the tunnel, at which point Ms. Goodwin was in Norfolk, Ms. Goodwin crashed head-on into a 2007 Chevrolet Equinox being driven by 43-year-old Shelby Riddick-Walker. Ms. Riddick-Walker was killed on impact. Medics pronounced Ms. Riddick-Walker dead at the scene and transported Ms. Goodwin to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital for treatment. Investigators obtained a search warrant for Ms. Goodwin’s hospital records and found that medical personnel had determined her blood alcohol content to be 0.22 — nearly three times the legal driving limit —less than an hour after the fatal crash. Investigators had also found an empty liquor bottle inside Ms. Goodwin’s vehicle. Toxicology experts did not find alcohol in Ms. Riddick-Walker’s blood.

Ms. Goodwin entered an agreement on Tuesday to plead guilty as charged to aggravated involuntary vehicular manslaughter and be sentenced to serve 12 years and four months in jail, with another seven years and eight months suspended on the conditions that she forfeit her driver’s license and complete five years of uniform good behavior and three years of supervised probation after her release. Judge Mary Jane Hall accepted Ms. Goodwin’s plea agreement and sentenced her per the agreement.

“Dominique Goodwin made the decision to drink hard and drive. Ms. Goodwin killed Shelby Riddick-Walker, a beloved mentor to many in the trans community,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “Shelby did nothing to deserve her death, and we lost the light of her work too soon. Ms. Goodwin will now serve a long sentence in prison. I hope that Ms. Goodwin’s acceptance of responsibility and measure of accountability offer some closure to Shelby’s family and friends. We will continue to prosecute the people who kill our neighbors, whether with guns or cars.”

Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Caswell W. Richardson and former Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Melinda F. Seemar prosecuted Ms. Goodwin’s case, and Virginia State Police Trooper Ryan Bierschenk led the investigation.

###