A startup founder has been charged with murder after allegedly driving a Tesla at up to 142mph and causing a fiery crash in California that killed a 29-year-old woman and her toddler daughter. Prosecutors say the extreme speed and resulting fireball collision demonstrate the kind of reckless disregard for life that elevates the case from a traffic offence to a murder charge, an unusually severe legal response to a road death.

The victims, a mother and her young daughter, died at the scene when their vehicle was struck. Authorities allege the defendant, described as a technology company executive, was travelling far in excess of highway speed limits at the time of impact, and the case is now proceeding through the California court system on the murder charge.