SEATTLE -- A woman blamed for a fatal head-on crash on Interstate 5 is a repeat drunken driver, troopers said.

Cerissa Christensen was driving the wrong way on the freeway when she smashed her sport utility vehicle into a pickup, killing its passenger and critically injuring the driver, troopers said.

It happened in the northbound lanes of I-5 at state Route 599 at about 1:15 a.m.

The northbound lanes of Interstate 5 were closed for several hours while troopers investigated.

SLIDESHOW: One Killed In Wrong-Way Crash

Troopers said they got reports just after 1 a.m. that a GMC Yukon was traveling southbound in the northbound lanes of I-5 going close to 100 mph.

"It actually passed one of the troopers working in the area in the southbound lanes, troopers attempting to stop it," said Jeff Merrill of the Washington State Patrol.

The trooper stayed alongside the wrong-way driver, trying to get Christensen’s attention by shining a spotlight, but it didn't work, troopers said.

“There’s just not a lot that officers can do when a vehicle is so oblivious that they’re driving on the wrong side of the freeway,” Merrill said.

The Yukon hit the pickup truck, killing 18-year-old Bawny McQuistin instantly and sending the 19-year-old male driver to Harborview Medical Center with critical injuries.

“She was just a beautiful lovely caring person…and she’s going to be missed so terribly by a lot of people,” Leslie McQuistin, Bawny’s aunt told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News.

"The causing driver is a 27-year-old from Seattle. She's a convicted felon. She's been arrested for investigation of vehicular homicide. Alcohol was a factor in this collision," Merrill said.

Troopers said Christensen suffered a broken ankle.

“She has made several attempts to try and escape from the hospital, actually to flee,” Merrill said.

“She made a number of statements to the effect that she knew she had too much to drink, so she was cognizant of the fact that she had been drinking and she had way too much to drink,” said Merrill.

In April Christensen was arrested for investigation of hit-and-run and reckless endangerment after deputies said she hit two parked cars and drove into a house.