“I had to be the one to tell my sister her babies were gone.” Raquel Smothers, the children’s aunt, said in court.
The aunt of two children killed after prosecutors say a drunk driver crashed into a birthday party addressed the court during the driver’s arraignment Tuesday.
Marshella Chidester, 66, has been charged with murder and driving under the influence in connection with the deaths of Alanah Phillips, 8, and her 4-year-old brother Zayn, who were attending a birthday party in Michigan. The children were killed instantly after being hit.
“I had to see my deceased niece and nephew. I had to see their very last moment,” Raquel Smothers, the children’s aunt, said in court. “I had to be the one to tell my sister her babies were gone.”
Surveillance video captured Chidester’s car speeding toward the Swan Boat Club that hosted the birthday party. Smoke could be seen from the impact. The crash left a hole in the side of the party venue.
“Some of the people there described it as they thought someone had planted a bomb and a bomb had actually gone off because this vehicle had driven literally through a wall,” Jon Marko, the children's family’s attorney, tells Inside Edition.
Chidester's attorney is raising the possibility that she had a seizure. Her attorney says Chidester had only one a glass of wine and chili four hours before the crash, adding that she suffered from epileptic-like seizures in her legs.
“I will never look at the month of April the same ever again,” Smothers said.
Chidester’s bond has been set at $1.5 million.
