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Isabella Lee Gaddis

Age : 17

Gender : Female

Race : White

Date : 08/16/2021

Location : Interstate 26 eastbound, mile marker 14.5 near US 176

City : Inman

County : Spartanburg

State : South Carolina

Agency : Inman Police Department

Officer(s) :Not Disclosed

Cause of Death : Vehicle

Event : Bystander killed by police chase crash

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 08/16/2021, 17-year-old Elleana Lee Gaddis was killed when a stolen Hummer traveling the wrong direction on Interstate 26 crashed head-on into the Kia in which she was riding near mile marker 14.5 in Spartanburg County. Her identical twin sister, Isabella Lee Gaddis, and their friend Brianna Lynn Foster were also killed. Their friend Maci Watts survived.
The four teenagers were traveling from their home community of Fishers, Indiana, to the South Carolina coast. Foster, 18, was driving the Kia, with the Gaddis twins and Watts, both 17, riding as passengers.
The later criminal prosecution established that Melissa Ann Parker had arrived at a Circle K on Asheville Highway in her own vehicle shortly before the crash. She parked her vehicle, climbed into another customer's Hummer SUV and stole it. Parker drove the Hummer around the gas station several times as law enforcement arrived.
An Inman Police Department officer attempted to stop Parker. Prosecutors said Parker nearly struck the responding officer before driving away and entering Interstate 26 near Exit 15 traveling west in the eastbound lanes.
At approximately 2:06 a.m., Parker drove the Hummer head-on into the eastbound Kia carrying the four friends. Elleana, Isabella and Foster died from the collision. Watts survived with minor injuries.
Parker climbed through the Hummer's rear window after the collision and left the scene. South Carolina Highway Patrol personnel, Spartanburg County sheriff's deputies and K-9 teams searched for her and found her in a nearby residential area. Investigators subsequently determined that Parker had consumed THC gummies and Adderall before driving.
Although an Inman officer attempted to stop Parker immediately before she entered I-26, the later detailed prosecutorial account does not state that police pursued her onto the interstate. The available evidence therefore does not establish that a continuing police pursuit was underway when the fatal head-on collision occurred.
Elleana and Isabella were identical twins and students at Hamilton Southeastern High School in Fishers. Their deaths, along with Foster's, prompted the school district to provide counseling and other support to students and staff.
On 09/23/2024, Parker pleaded guilty to three counts of felony DUI resulting in death, first-degree assault and battery, grand larceny and hit-and-run with minor personal injury.
Circuit Court Judge R. Keith Kelly imposed the statutory maximum 25-year prison sentence and a $25,100 fine for each felony-DUI-death conviction, together with additional prison sentences for the other offenses. All sentences run concurrently, resulting in an effective 25-year term.
Maci Watts, the only survivor from the Kia, later said she wished Parker's sentence had been longer but found some comfort in knowing Parker would remain incarcerated for years.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.spartanburgcounty.gov/DocumentCenter/View/103955/092324--Spartanburg-Woman-Sentenced-for-The-Deaths-of-Three-Young-Women
https://www.foxcarolina.com/2024/09/23/plea-hearing-take-place-woman-accused-killing-3-upstate-teens-wrong-way-crash/
https://www.wyff4.com/article/woman-sentenced-wrong-south-carolina-crash-teens/62337150
https://www.wthr.com/article/news/crime/woman-sentenced-to-prison-in-wrong-way-crash-that-killed-3-fishers-teens-melissa-ann-parker/531-93f658ab-92fc-496a-b860-e974d7b993f6
https://www.indystar.com/story/news/local/hamilton-county/2021/08/17/3-fishers-teens-killed-car-crash-south-carolina/8155533002/
https://www.goupstate.com/story/news/2021/08/30/spartanburg-teens-killed-dui-crash-suspect-pleads-guilty/5637680001/
https://www.wyff4.com/article/three-teens-from-indiana-die-in-south-carolina-wrong-way-crash-with-hummer/37319748