Drunk Woman Crashes Car With 5 Children Inside, 4-Year-Old Boy Dead

A woman in Wichita Falls, Texas, was charged with murder Monday (April 27) in connection with the death of her four-year-old son who was killed in a car crash.

On Dec.20, 2019, Migel Julianna Matthew was driving a car and the mother, 28-year-old Tyneshia Chatman, was a passenger. Five children, including 4-year-old Christian Redmond, were also in the vehicle which crashed in the 5000 block of Henry S. Grace Freeway. Five occupants were injected and Redmond died at the scene.

According to the affidavit, the first responders got a strong smell of alcohol from inside the vehicle and they could also smell alcohol on Matthew’s breath. Several bottles of liquor were found around the crash site. Investigation revealed that Matthews was drinking before driving.

"Based on my training and experience, there appeared to be no reason for the crash except for the intoxication of Matthew(s)," the investigating officer wrote in the affidavit. A day after the incident, Matthews, who was a family friend of Chatman, was charged with intoxication manslaughter and released on bond the same day.

On Monday, her charges were upgraded to murder. Meanwhile, Chatman was also indicted on four counts of abandoning and endangering a child. Both of them were being held in Wichita County Jail on $100,000 bond each and could face life imprisonment if found guilty.

The incident comes less than a month after a Florida woman was arrested in connection with the death of her three-year-old daughter who was killed in a crash. Leslie Joe Zeagler was driving a minivan with the girl inside the vehicle, when she blacked out resulting in the vehicle striking a palm tree. The girl, Serenity Robinson, was ejected from the vehicle and she died on the spot. Zeagler was hospitalized with minor injuries.

“The subsequent investigation found that there was no child restraint device in the vehicle as required by law and that Serenity was not restrained at the time of the crash. Further, Zeagler was found to be impaired by multiple controlled substances while operating the motor vehicle at the time of the crash,” police said. The mother was arrested and charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child and driving under the influence among other offenses.