Assistant State Attorney Melissa Clark this morning filed a vehicular homicide charge against 24-year-old Leigha Catherine Mumby in addition to the two previous felony charges Mumby has faced since July. The new charge is the result of the death of Daniel Waterman, 22, earlier this month, eight months after he was critically injured in a car crash on I-95 in Palm Coast, as Mumby drove.
A Florida Highway Patrol investigation concluded that Mumby had caused the crash as she and Waterman were arguing. Moments before the crash, Waterman told the investigator in May, Mumby told Waterman: “I don’t care what happens, you’ll get what you deserve,” then swerved off the highway and crashed into a tree. Waterman’s injuries left him in critical condition and hospitalized in Daytona Beach and in Syracuse until his death on Oct. 8.
The filing was expected, especially after Clark was assigned the case last week, and after Waterman’s autopsy report was added on Friday to the list of evidence in the prosecution’s case. FlaglerLive reported Waterman’s death last week. (See: “Critical After February Crash, Daniel Waterman, 22, Died on Oct. 8. His Pregnant Girlfriend Is Accused of Causing the Crash.”
FHP had initially charged Mumby with reckless driving with serious bodily harm, a third-degree felony, and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon resulting in bodily harm, a second-degree felony. The State Attorney’s Office filed the information on the charge on Aug. 4. This morning Clark filed the amended information that includes her office’s “direct”-filed charge of vehicular homicide.
Third-degree felonies carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison, second-degree felonies, of 15, though first-time offenders seldom face that serious a penalty, if convicted, especially in plea deals. Under Florida’s sentencing guidelines, however, both second-degree felony charges against Mumby are so-called Level 7 felonies, which carry a minimum state prison penalty of 21 months.
Mumby was booked on the first two charges at the Flagler County jail last July and immediately released on $25,000 bond. She has not been arraigned on the third charge. She was issued a notice to appear at the next pre-trial, scheduled for Nov. 19, before Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols. She was living in Flagler Beach at the time of the crash, but may have moved to Jacksonville since, according to members of the Waterman family.
The crash took place the night of the Super Bowl on Feb. 9. Mumby and Waterman were spending the day with Waterman’s cousins, Jessica and Sarah Stappenbeck, who live in Palm Coast’s B-Section near Indian Trails Middle School. That morning, Mumby had discovered that she was pregnant from Waterman. That led to tensions between them, as she was intent on keeping the child and he was not as sure. “During the day, he did say, he didn’t know what he was going to do, and he didn’t like how Leigha was handling the situation,” Jessica Stappenbeck told FlaglerLive in an interview.
They all had plans to spend the day together and watch the Super Bowl at Stappenbeck’s house. Waterman and Mumby did so, leaving before the end of the game, and taking I-95 first south, then north again, after turning around at Palm Coast Parkway. They were arguing. Stappenbeck–who is not on the prosecution’s witness list so far–said she was the last person to speak with Mumby as Mumby drove. Mumby called her twice, both times upset, according to Stappenbeck, because she suspected Waterman of being in contact with a former girlfriend.
Stappenbeck said there was a text from her cousin’s phone that night, four minutes before the crash, saying, “this is what he gets for being a liar and a cheater.”
“That was something that we think Leigha texted, because I don’t know why Daniel would send that on his own phone to Leigha,” Stappenbeck said, “and he even said that she grabbed his phone from him.”
The text was turned over to FHP. The FHP investigator documented the last minutes before the crash through the vehicle’s computer, which showed speeds above 90 mph and abrupt veering off the road just before the crash.
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