Wake County: Bielinski sentenced after 2025 crash that killed Swenson

Confirmed

• A Wake County judge sentenced Michael Kenneth Bielinski on Friday, Oct. 31, 2026, after a Dec. 1, 2025, crash on Countryview Lane near Yates Mill Pond Road.Confirmed by court records, as reported by CBS 17 (WordPress date 2026-11-02T10:13:30 / 10:13 a.m. ET Monday) and The News & Observer (Lexi Solomon, Oct. 31, 2026, 12:07 p.m.)
• CBS 17 and The News & Observer both wrote that the prison term is two years and three months, followed by three years of supervised probation.Confirmed by court records, as reported independently by CBS 17 and The News & Observer
• CBS 17 named the woman who died Anna Patricia Swenson. The Observer's Friday file called her Ann Swenson, 76.Confirmed by CBS 17 only for Anna Patricia; The News & Observer Friday file only for Ann, 76
• CBS 17, citing a State Highway Patrol search warrant, wrote that Swenson was walking west on the northbound shoulder when Bielinski, traveling west in a Toyota RAV4, lost control and struck her. That page said she was taken to WakeMed in Raleigh in critical condition and died Dec. 12.Confirmed by Highway Patrol search warrant, as reported by CBS 17 only
• The Observer, citing a search warrant, timed troopers at about 4:30 p.m. and wrote that the RAV4 veered off the road. A medical examiner report, as that page summarized it, said she was thrown about 75 feet and that the driver was thought to have been going 35 mph in a 35 mph zone.Confirmed by search warrant and Office of the Chief Medical Examiner report, as reported by The News & Observer Friday file only
• The Observer wrote that officers recorded a 0.08 breath-test result, the legal threshold for impairment. CBS 17 said a breath test indicated impairment and did not print a number.Confirmed by The News & Observer Friday file for 0.08; CBS 17 for impairment without a number
• CBS 17 dated a July 29, 2026, guilty plea to felony death by vehicle and driving while impaired, and wrote that the remaining indictment counts were dismissed. The Observer said he pleaded guilty in July to those two counts and did not print July 29.Confirmed by court records, as reported by CBS 17 (July 29); The News & Observer Friday file (July, without the day)
• CBS 17 wrote that a Dec. 15, 2025, Wake County Superior Court indictment listed felony death by motor vehicle, felony serious injury by vehicle, driving while impaired, and failure to maintain lane control.Confirmed by court records, as reported by CBS 17 only
• The Observer's Dec. 19, 2025, charging story listed felony death by motor vehicle, driving while impaired, and failure to maintain lane control, and wrote that an earlier felony injury-by-vehicle charge was replaced after she died.Confirmed by The News & Observer, Lexi Solomon, updated Dec. 19, 2025, 3:51 p.m., citing court records. That page did not list felony serious injury by vehicle among the indictment counts
• The Observer's Friday file identified Bielinski as a 72-year-old Cary dentist and named Superior Court Judge Jennifer Bedford. CBS 17 did not print his age, job, town, or the judge.Confirmed by The News & Observer Friday file only
• Bedford's written findings, as the Observer summarized them, cited a mostly clean driving record, cooperation, a low breath-test result, health issues, the loss of a child in 2020, restitution, community reputation, and completed treatment, plus a 2013 reckless-driving plea in Cary.Confirmed by Judge Jennifer Bedford's written findings, as reported by The News & Observer Friday file only
• The Observer wrote that probation includes continuous alcohol monitoring in the first year and that he may not hold a driver's license until probation ends. CBS 17 wrote that he may not drive until he gets his license back, may not use alcohol or illegal drugs unless a doctor prescribes them, and must complete programs and drug tests his officer sets.Confirmed by The News & Observer Friday file for continuous monitoring and license-until-probation-ends; CBS 17 for the shorter probation list