John Dungan Gets Three Consecutive Sentences in Santa Barbara Triple Homicide

Judge Thomas Adams Gives 15 Years to Life for Each Count in Intentional Collision That Killed Three

Defendant John Dungan on Friday, July 15. | Credit: Rodrigo Hernandez

Nearly three years after intentionally swerving his Chevy Camaro into oncoming traffic at nearly 120 miles per hour in October 2019 — smashing head-on into another vehicle and killing 34-year-old Rebecca Vanessa Goss Bley and her two children — John Dungan was sentenced to three consecutive terms of 15 years to life by Judge Thomas Adams in Santa Barbara on Monday.

Dungan was found guilty of three felony counts of second-degree murder on August 2, following an emotionally charged trial that recounted the events leading up to and following the fatal collision on October 25, 2019. The prosecution team — led by deputy district attorneys Megan Chanda and Stephen Wagner — originally sought three counts of first-degree murder and built a case that a suicidal and homicidal Dungan purposely plowed his car into Bley’s Chevy Volt, ejecting her from the vehicle and killing the two children trapped inside.

Vanessa Goss Bley with husband Max Gleason and their children, Lucienne and Desmond Bley Gleason. | Credit: Courtesy

Max Gleason, Bley’s husband and father to 2-year-old Lucienne Bley Gleason and 4-month-old Desmond Bley Gleason, was not present for the sentencing, but many family members were in the gallery. Several members of the Gleason family spoke to the court, providing tearful tributes to the three victims and asking that Judge Adams follow the Probation Department’s pre-sentencing report recommendation of three consecutive sentences.