A Gillette woman accused of “seeing red,” giving in to her rage and ramming into the car of her boyfriend’s mistress said she would like to apologize publicly for her actions.
“I guess I would like to say sorry to the public — I apologize for my actions. They were wrong,” Amber Osborne, who turns 34 this year, told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday, while reflecting on the charge of felony property destruction she now faces in Campbell County District Court.
Osborne said her boyfriend and the father of her four children had a temporary fling with another woman during a relationship break.
She and the other woman were discussing this issue, when the other woman messaged Osborne asking Osborne (who works delivering for DoorDash) to bring her a soda, court documents say, Osborne started “seeing red” and ended up ramming the woman’s parked car, reportedly.
The investigation started March 17 at 9:09 p.m. when Gillette Police Department Officer Anna Madrid-Vahlkamp responded to a report of a hit-and-run on Church Avenue.
There, the officer found a silver 2013 Volkswagen Beetle with heavy rear-end damage to the passenger side, says an evidentiary affidavit Madrid-Vahlkamp filed in Gillette Circuit Court one month later, after a weekslong investigation.
A Gillette city trash bin also was “destroyed,” the affidavit says.
‘Other Woman’ Interview
Madrid-Vahlkamp met outside with a woman who said she was inside her home when she heard loud noises and asked her daughter to look out the window. The daughter said something was wrong with the car.
At the time of the crash, the woman had been messaging a man whom she said was her boyfriend. The man had told the woman she should go look at her vehicle, because Osborne had just contacted him saying she’d “smashed into it,” court documents relate from the other woman’s interview.
The woman told Officer Madrid-Vahlkamp that Osborne was mad at her for dating Osborne’s “previous” boyfriend.
In talking to Cowboy State Daily, Osborne said she and the man had broken up briefly, but that he was her boyfriend again after the brief breakup. "He's a good person," Osborne added in a later text message.
Madrid-Vahlkamp reportedly found Chevy Tahoe grill carnage on scene. The Beetle was perpendicular to the house though it had been parked parallel to the house before the crash, the other woman told the officer.
Driver’s Interview
Osborne met with Madrid-Vahlkamp at the Gillette Police Department at about 11 p.m. for her own police interview. She allowed GPD Officer Ben Hoang to take photos of her Chevy Tahoe, which bore front-end damage, the affidavit says.
Osborne at first told police she was driving too fast in the dark and collided with the Beetle, then rushed off for one of her DoorDash deliveries, reportedly.
Madrid-Vahlkamp voiced doubts about this theory, writing, “Let it be noted the trailer (home) is not on a main access road. It is at the end of a private drive with no exit.”
The officer cited Osborne for careless driving and leaving the scene of a crash, but also told Osborne she’d be investigating the incident further.
Neighbor Hands Over Footage
Madrid-Vahlkamp contacted a female neighbor who gave her own home video footage to the investigation.
It shows a vehicle speeding straight down the road 28 seconds after 9:06 p.m. the night of March 17, according to the affidavit’s recounting of the video’s timestamp.
But at about 9:06:30, the vehicle “suddenly curves to the right” and ploughs into the garbage bin and the Beetle, the document relates.
The affidavit says that, six seconds later, the intruding vehicle backs up, turns around and leaves the area.
Come Back Here
Madrid-Vahlkamp called Osborne to the police department for another interview, which happened April 1 at 10:16 p.m.
Osborne said she and the other woman were messaging each other about the other woman’s involvement with Osborne’s boyfriend. The other woman then asked Osborne to “DoorDash her a soda,” the affidavit says.
“I drove over like a f***ing psycho, and I accidentally hit her f***ing car,” Osborne said, reportedly.
Throughout the interview, Osborne indicated that she sped over there to do something, but wasn’t really sure what she was going to do until she did it.
“I just needed to get there,” said Osborne, allegedly, adding “I wish I would not have done it.”
The affidavit alleges that Osborne called her boyfriend and asked to speak to her children before she’d have to go to jail.
Mom’s Car, Turns Out
Madrid-Vahlkamp learned that the damaged car actually belongs to the other woman’s mother, but that the other woman was planning to buy it from her mother.
The mother attested she’d have to pay a $1,000 deductible to the insurance company for the damage; the damage was estimated at $12,389 but that the insurance company wanted to call it totaled and cut a check for $9,600.
Osborne’s case is ongoing. It rose to the felony-level Campbell County District Court on Friday. The maximum penalty for felony property destruction is 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines.
Though Cowboy State Daily has learned the identity of the other woman, she hasn't been charged in this case and could not be reached for comment by publication time.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
