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Grieving parents of killed Boulder cyclist speak out after arrest

By Carol McKinley December 14, 2023 | updated 2 years ago

The shiny blue sunglasses Magnus White wore when he was hit by an oncoming car and thrown from his bicycle don’t have a scratch on them. They sit in a special place on a side table in his family’s home along with one of the last photos taken of him, and his University of Colorado “Prime” hat.

His parents, Michael and Jill White, marvel at the pristine condition of those polarized sunglasses because Magnus, a 17-year-old cycling champion from Boulder, was hit July 29 in the middle of the day by a vehicle which was going 60 miles per hour, according to investigators. Magnus, whom police speculated was cycling at around 25 miles per hour, died of blunt force injury to his head.

Jill and Michael White talk about their son Magnus White

A photograph of Magnus White sits next to the urn his ashes are in at the White family residence in Boulder, as seen Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023. White was killed after being struck by a car while riding his bicycle on the Diagonal Highway between Boulder and Longmont on July 29. (Jonathan Ingraham/Denver Gazette)

Jonathan Ingraham jonathan.ingraham@denvergazette.com

Jill and Michael White talk about their son Magnus White

A photograph of Magnus White sits next to the urn his ashes are in at the White family residence in Boulder, as seen Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023. White was killed after being struck by a car while riding his bicycle on the Diagonal Highway between Boulder and Longmont on July 29. (Jonathan Ingraham/Denver Gazette)






Thursday, the Whites invited reporters into their living room and spoke publicly for the first time so that people can see the human face of grief and perhaps think twice when they get behind the wheel. It was an especially hard day because their emotions were raw after reading the arrest affidavit, which was released the day before. Some of the information in the document “filled in the blanks” about what happened in their son’s last moments alive.

“We haven’t had any answers as to why Magnus was killed. So now we have the why essentially,” said Michael White. Added his wife: “We are facing the uncomfortable truth of things and then a life without Magnus. We are talking to you now because we have lost everything.”

The Whites learned from the Colorado State Patrol charging document that the 23-year-old Ukrainian driver of the car which fatally hit Magnus, got into her vehicle to drive home to Boulder from Longmont after very little sleep. Witnesses saw Yeva Smilianska drift across the road at Highway 119 near Gunbarrell, and head directly for Magnus White, not braking.

Jill and Michael White talk about their son Magnus White

Sunglasses belonging to Magnus White sit on a table at the White family residence in Boulder, as seen Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023. White was killed after being struck by a car while riding his bicycle on the Diagonal Highway between Boulder and Longmont on July 29. (Jonathan Ingraham/Denver Gazette)

Jonathan Ingraham/Denver Gazette

Jill and Michael White talk about their son Magnus White

Sunglasses belonging to Magnus White sit on a table at the White family residence in Boulder, as seen Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023. White was killed after being struck by a car while riding his bicycle on the Diagonal Highway between Boulder and Longmont on July 29. (Jonathan Ingraham/Denver Gazette)






She told police that she had steering wheel failure, but police noted in the affidavit that just 20 minutes before the crash, she texted a friend, “I’m falling asleep so I’m going home.” Mechanics who made a post-crash inspection of her Toyota Matrix found no malfunction which would have contributed to the crash.

According to the affidavit, Smilianska commented that she was having trouble sleeping after a traumatic time in Ukraine and her lawyers told the court she is a refugee who fled the war. According to the affidavit, she has no criminal history in the United States or in Ukraine.

Magnus White’s path was very different from hers. 

He was doing so much international travel, he had enrolled in Boulder Universal Online School where he had a 4.2 grade point average.

When he died, he was focused on his final preparations before leaving for Glasgow, Scotland to compete in the Junior Men’s Mountain Bike Cross-Country World Championships on Aug. 10.

White’s recent wins included:

  • 2021 Junior 17-18 Cyclocross National Championships
  • Represented the U.S. at Cyclocross World Championships in January 2023 in Hoogerheide
  • In summer 2023, White earned a spot on the Mountain Bike World Championships team

White’s coach, Senior Coach Michael Robson with Boulder Junior Cycling (BJC), spoke to the Denver Gazette Thursday, Aug. 10 about the crash and Magnus the cyclist.

“I was really close with Magnus and I traveled with him a lot,” Robson said. “I had been coaching him directly, he was in my coaching group, for the last six years since he was about 11 years old.”

Robson and White had known each other even longer, over seven years, with the duo traveling together to travel-races around the country.

“I had spent a lot of time with Magnus in the last two years,” Robson said.

“When I was coaching him, if I gave him a skill to practice and work on, the next time I saw him he would have practiced that skill and almost mastered it,” he said.

Robson also said if White wasn’t in a bike race or in a coaching clinic, he’d be out meeting up with his friends riding bikes — demonstrating how much White loved riding.

“He was all bikes all the time.”

That’s what just about everyone said about Magnus White. 

The last time Michael White saw his son, he was on a training ride just two minutes from their home. After about fifteen minutes, he texted him: “How’s the ride?”

Jill and Michael White talk about their son Magnus White

Michael White talks about his son Magnus White's cycling jerseys in the White family residence basement Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023, after talking to members of the media about the arrest of the woman suspected of causing the death of his son by crashing her car into him while he bicycled on the Diagonal Highway between Boulder and Longmont on July 29.

Jonathan Ingraham/Denver Gazette

Jill and Michael White talk about their son Magnus White

Michael White talks about his son Magnus White’s cycling jerseys in the White family residence basement Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023, after talking to members of the media about the arrest of the woman suspected of causing the death of his son by crashing her car into him while he bicycled on the Diagonal Highway between Boulder and Longmont on July 29.






Magnus didn’t answer.

Michael White figured the reason for the phone silence was because his son decided to add a few more miles to a 70-mile training day, as he often did. Forty-five minutes later, the hospital called to tell him that Magnus had been in horrible accident.

White said that during his last moments with his son, he was on life support. Magnus White died at 10:20 p.m. July 29.

“To know he died violently, it’s hard to reconcile that,” said Michael.

After months of grief, the Whites have moments of disbelief that their fun, mischievous son is gone.

“He was our baby. He might have been 17, but he was our baby,” said Jill White, her head down, her long hair hiding her face. 

In the basement of the White’s north Boulder home are Magnus’ six bicycles — which Michael White has greased, cleaned and gotten race ready. One of them still has dirt on the tires from a race Magnus rode in the Netherlands.

Jill and Michael White talk about their son Magnus White

Michael White becomes emotional while talking about his son Magnus White's death in the White family residence basement Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023. The family talked to members of the media about the arrest of the woman suspected of causing the death his son by crashing into him while he bicycled on the Diagonal Highway between Boulder and Longmont on July 29. (Jonathan Ingraham/Denver Gazette)

Jonathan Ingraham/Denver Gazette

Jill and Michael White talk about their son Magnus White

Michael White becomes emotional while talking about his son Magnus White’s death in the White family residence basement Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023. The family talked to members of the media about the arrest of the woman suspected of causing the death his son by crashing into him while he bicycled on the Diagonal Highway between Boulder and Longmont on July 29. (Jonathan Ingraham/Denver Gazette)






On November 18, Magnus’ parents had a party for what would have been his 18th birthday and hired an In-and-Out Burger truck to pass out his favorite food.

They have started a foundation called White Line to bring awareness to drivers to stay off of their cell phones and to be clear-headed before they get behind the steering wheel so that “cyclists can come home.” 

Jill and Michael White talk about their son Magnus White

The White family home basement has a room with their late son Magnus White's jerseys, bicycles, photographs and other cycling-related items in it, as seen Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023. Michael and Jill White talked to members of the media about the arrest of the woman suspected of causing the death of their son by crashing a car into him while he bicycled on the Diagonal Highway between Boulder and Longmont on July 29.

Jonathan Ingraham jonathan.ingraham@denvergazette.com

Jill and Michael White talk about their son Magnus White

The White family home basement has a room with their late son Magnus White’s jerseys, bicycles, photographs and other cycling-related items in it, as seen Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023. Michael and Jill White talked to members of the media about the arrest of the woman suspected of causing the death of their son by crashing a car into him while he bicycled on the Diagonal Highway between Boulder and Longmont on July 29.






They want to see double white lines on the roads, better signage and rumble strips put on the side of the road to warn distracted drivers that they need to check themselves.

“His story is over,” his mom said. “But we can continue to write his story for him.” 

PHOTOS: Jill and Michael White speak about their son Magnus White

Jill and Michael White spoke Dec. 14, 2024, about the arrest of the woman suspected of killing their son Magnus White in July while he was road cycling on the Diagonal Highway between Boulder and Longmont at their home in Boulder, Colorado.

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Carol McKinley

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