UTAH COUNTY (ABC4 News) – The woman whose car was stolen as part of a crime spree the day Sgt. Cory Wride was killed and Deputy Greg Sherwood was shot is teaching her children the meaning of respect and sacrifice.
On January 30, 2014, Chetney Williams, four months pregnant and with her 4-year-old daughter, was stopped while driving her car in Nephi.
A woman who waved her arms to stop her was then 17-year-old Meagan Grunwald. Deputies said as Grunwald climbed in the front passenger seat, her boyfriend, Jose Garcia-Juaregui, approached the driver’s door and pointed a gun at Chetney yelling at her to get out of the car.
Deputies said Grunwald and Garcia-Juaregui, had shot and killed Sgt. Cory Wride and critically injured Deputy Greg Sherwood.
Garcia-Juaregui eventually died from injuries sustained in a gun fight with law enforcement and Grunwald was later convicted of several crimes and sentenced to time in prison.
Fast forward almost five and a half years to Memorial Day 2019. Shea Wride, the son of Sgt. Cory Wride, and his wife, Amie Soper-Wride, were visiting Cory’s grave in Spanish Fork.
“. . .as we were leaving we saw an unfamiliar family approach Sgt. Cory Wride’s headstone with blue and white flowers,” said Amie Soper-Wride.
This family was Chetney Williams with her 10-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son – the son with whom she was pregnant in January 2014. They came to visit Sgt. Wride’s grave to pay respect to the man who, as Chetney’s children said, “saved their lives.”
Chetney said she takes her children to Sgt. Wride’s grave every Memorial Day and some other holidays. She wants them to know the man who honorably served his community. Shea and Amie, with Chetney and her children, shared a moment honoring a good man whose memory lives on.
