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Elleana Lee Gaddis

Age : 17

Gender : Female

Race : White

Date : 08/16/2021

Location : Interstate 26 near mile marker 14.5

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 Isabella 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, Elleana Lee Gaddis, and their friend Brianna Lynn Foster were also killed. Their friend Maci Watts survived.
The four teenagers were traveling from Fishers, Indiana, to the South Carolina coast. Foster, 18, was driving the Kia when the crash occurred.
The later criminal prosecution established that Melissa Ann Parker had arrived at a Circle K on Asheville Highway, parked her own vehicle and climbed into another customer's Hummer SUV. Parker stole the Hummer and drove it around the gas station several times while law enforcement was arriving.
An Inman Police Department officer attempted to stop Parker. Prosecutors said Parker nearly struck the officer and then drove the Hummer away. She entered Interstate 26 near Exit 15 and began traveling west in the interstate's eastbound lanes.
At approximately 2:06 a.m., the Hummer collided head-on with the Kia carrying Isabella, Elleana, Foster and Watts. Isabella, Elleana and Foster were killed. Watts sustained minor injuries.
Parker escaped from the damaged Hummer through its rear window and left the scene without contacting police or emergency medical personnel. South Carolina Highway Patrol personnel, Spartanburg County sheriff's deputies and K-9 teams searched the surrounding area and found Parker in a residential neighborhood near the interstate. Investigators determined that she had consumed THC gummies and Adderall before driving.
The later prosecutorial reconstruction confirms that police attempted to stop Parker at the Circle K but does not describe an active police pursuit continuing behind her on Interstate 26. The available evidence therefore does not establish that police were pursuing the Hummer when Parker struck the teenagers' Kia.
Isabella and Elleana were identical twins and students at Hamilton Southeastern High School in Fishers. Foster had recently graduated from the same school. The school district made counselors available following the deaths.
More than three years after the crash, Parker pleaded guilty on 09/23/2024 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 sentenced Parker to 25 years in prison and a $25,100 fine for each felony-DUI-death count, as well as additional prison terms on the remaining convictions. Because all of the sentences run concurrently, Parker received an effective 25-year prison sentence.
The families and surviving passenger continued to speak publicly at sentencing about the permanent consequences of the crash. They expressed dissatisfaction that Parker could eventually leave prison when the three young women had lost their lives.

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