Mother, boyfriend indicted on felony charges for crash that killed girl
Matthew Sanders
Editor’s note: The day of the indictment was corrected.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A Callaway County grand jury indicted a woman and her boyfriend on child endangerment charges Tuesday for the crash that killed the woman’s 3-year-old daughter.
Leela M. James, 32, of Holts Summit, and Jessie Knehans, 29, each face a single count of first-degree child endangerment for the Feb. 12 crash. James was booked in the Callaway County Jail and released on her own recognizance on Thursday afternoon. Knehans was booked into the jail at 5:13 p.m. and was released under an hour later.
Callaway County Prosecuting Attorney Sandra Colhour confirmed Knehans’s charged on Thursday afternoon.
One of the indictments state that James put her 3-year-old daughter, Trinity Durham, in a car seat that day but did not properly fasten the restraints. The crash happened in snowy conditions on a Highway 54 exit ramp.
The vehicle slid off the road, hit a tree and overturned.
Trinity’s father, Coby Durham, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against James, Trinity’s grandmother and Jessie Knehans, whom the lawsuit contends was driving at the time of the crash.
The lawsuit accuses Knehans of negligence for not properly restraining the girl, failing to keep a careful lookout and speeding.
The Missouri Department of Social Services is also named in the lawsuit for allegedly failing to respond to earlier reports about unsafe living conditions for Trinity — including concerns about her riding in vehicles with improperly installed car seats and with drivers known to be reckless.