Reggie Shaw is sent home from his Mormon mission after confessing to having had premarital sex with his girlfriend.

Driving to work in wet conditions, Reggie's SUV drifts over the center line and clips a sedan carrying two rocket scientists.

The scientists' sedan fishtails into a trailing truck, which T-bones it, killing Jim Furfaro and Keith O'Dell on impact.

Trooper Bart Rindlisbacher arrives at the crash scene and immediately suspects the young driver was distracted by his phone.

On the way to the hospital, Rindlisbacher watches Reggie text one-handed, reinforcing his suspicion about the cause of the crash.

Separately, Leila O'Dell and Jackie Furfaro each receive news at home that their husbands have been killed in a car accident.

Rindlisbacher brings his suspicions about Reggie's phone use to the Cache County Attorney's Office and begins pursuing the phone records.

Victims' advocate Terryl Warner contacts Jackie Furfaro and takes on the case on behalf of both widows.

Investigator Scott Singleton discovers a series of texts sent from Reggie's phone at the exact moment of the accident.

Terryl persuades prosecutor Don Linton to take on the case and pursue negligent homicide charges against Reggie.

Reggie is called back from his second Mormon mission and returns home to face a negligent homicide charge.

Dr. Strayer testifies that texting while driving causes a sixfold increase in crash risk, and Reggie decides to accept a plea deal.

Reggie stands before a state legislative committee and publicly confesses his role in causing the deaths of the two rocket scientists.

The judge sentences Reggie to 30 days in jail and requires him to speak publicly about the dangers of distracted driving.

Reggie embarks on a public speaking campaign, telling his story to students and athletes and earning praise as a remarkable example of redemption.

Pool 1 covers the central spine of A Deadly Wandering, beginning with Reggie Shaw's early moral failures and the crash that killed two rocket scientists. Trooper Rindlisbacher's suspicions set off an investigation that draws in victims' advocate Terryl Warner, the widows of the two men, and eventually prosecutor Don Linton. Investigators uncover phone records that undermine Reggie's story, and Terryl pushes the case toward a negligent homicide charge that forces Reggie home from a second mission. Expert testimony from distracted-driving researcher Dr. Strayer finally breaks through Reggie's denial, leading him to accept a plea deal and confess publicly before a state legislative committee. The pool concludes with Reggie sentenced and embarking on a speaking campaign that earns him recognition as a remarkable example of earned redemption.

The headline events of a fatal crash, a landmark investigation, and one young man's road to accountability.

Farrier John Kaiserman, driving behind Reggie, watches the SUV drift over the yellow center line multiple times before the crash.

Rindlisbacher questions Reggie at the hospital about the accident, and Reggie denies texting, insisting his heavy SUV hydroplaned.

Jackie Furfaro picks up her young daughter from school and tells her that her father has died in a car crash.

The night after the accident, Ed Shaw tells his wife he will never allow his son to spend a night in jail.

Leila O'Dell discovers that Reggie has hired an attorney, making her suspicious that the crash was not a simple accident.

Leila O'Dell returns to the site of the accident and is so overcome with grief that she must be taken to a hospital.

Reggie takes a job coaching his former high school's sophomore basketball team as a way to cope with grief and guilt.

Leila O'Dell contacts a state senator at her attorney's firm, planting the seed of a legislative campaign against distracted driving.

State Representative Stephen Clark nearly rear-ends a car while texting and immediately resolves to push legislation banning the practice.

Reggie enters a plea of not guilty at his arraignment, angering the victims' widows and Terryl Warner.

Defense attorney Bunderson files multiple legal motions attempting to disqualify Dr. Strayer as an expert witness for the prosecution.

The Utah House of Representatives votes on February 26 to pass the texting-and-driving ban after the committee approves the bill.

The Utah State Senate passes the texting-and-driving legislation with a 26-to-1 vote, all but ensuring it becomes law.

Reggie attends the inaugural Distracted Driving Summit in Washington, DC, where President Obama signs a federal order banning employee texting while driving.

Terryl Warner is appointed to the Utah State Board of Education, capping years of advocacy work on behalf of victims.

Pool 2 focuses on the figures and legislative threads that run alongside the main story but are no less important. Beginning with eyewitness John Kaiserman's account of the drifting SUV, the events trace the private grief of the victims' families, the behind-the-scenes investigative grind, and the separate paths that Leila O'Dell and state representative Stephen Clark take toward demanding change. Reggie's evasive legal strategy takes shape through his family's guidance, his hiring of an attorney, and his not-guilty arraignment, each move deepening the widows' anger. The legislative campaign grows from Leila's tentative contact with a senator into a floor vote in both chambers of the Utah legislature. The pool closes with Reggie's story reaching the national stage at the Distracted Driving Summit and Terryl's years of advocacy culminating in a formal appointment to the Utah State Board of Education.

The witnesses, families, investigators, and lawmakers caught in the wake of a distracted driver.

Reggie lies to his bishop about having sex with his girlfriend, then falsely tells her he had confessed the truth.

A teenage Terryl learns that her abusive stepfather Danny is not her biological father and that her mother deliberately hid this fact.

Reggie meets with counselor Gaylyn White and admits he cannot remember anything that happened in the moments before the crash.

Terryl takes a Mormon mission to Costa Rica to fulfill the long-held dream of her dying best friend April.

Investigator Singleton tracks down Briana Bishop and questions her about text messages she exchanged with Reggie the morning of the accident.

Leila O'Dell and Jackie Furfaro meet with prosecutors at the county attorney's office and plead for negligent homicide charges against Reggie.

A forensic sciences firm concludes that Reggie's heavy SUV could not have hydroplaned, destroying the defense's central explanation for the crash.

Defense attorney Bunderson approaches Reggie with a plea deal offer after a series of legal rulings favor the prosecution.

Presentencing report writer Kaylene Yonk initially labels Reggie a remorseless liar but reconsiders after he breaks down crying over photos of the wreck.

The judge at sentencing orders Reggie to read Les Misérables and write an essay about redemption as part of his sentence conditions.

Reggie completes his essay on Les Misérables, writing about the power of redemption and the danger of seeking praise for making amends.

Prosecutor Don Linton tells Reggie after sentencing that his true mission is now saving lives rather than converting people to his faith.

Jackie Furfaro forgives Reggie for his role in her husband's death after witnessing his sustained public service campaign.

A psychologist pulls Reggie aside after a speaking event and warns him that constantly reliving the accident is re-traumatizing him.

Brain scans at a university neuroimaging center place Reggie in the top quarter for focus, confirming that distraction can overwhelm anyone.

Pool 3 traces the internal reckoning and decisive moments that determined how the story unfolded beneath its surface events. It opens with Reggie's early pattern of deception — lies to his bishop and his girlfriend — and Terryl's discovery of truths her mother had buried for years. As the investigation tightens, pivotal revelations emerge: forensic evidence destroys Reggie's hydroplaning claim, and a presentencing expert softens her harsh judgment only after witnessing genuine tears. The sentencing hearing produces two of the book's most resonant turning points, as a judge assigns an unusual literary task and a prosecutor reframes Reggie's entire future purpose. The pool closes with Reggie's ongoing reckoning — a psychologist's warning that reliving the crash is causing new harm — and a brain-scan result that confirms the universal fragility of human attention.

The hidden decisions, emotional breakthroughs, and quiet pivots that shaped who was punished, who forgave, and who healed.