Marie Dobbs was at a birthday celebration with her three children, Jayden, Alanah, and Zayn, at a boat club in Michigan. Suddenly, a 66-year-old woman named Marshella Chidester, dressed in a jail jumpsuit, crashed through the building, causing a tragic incident. The crash resulted in the deaths of Alanah and Zayn, while Dobbs and Jayden sustained severe injuries. Images of the event can be seen on Dobbs’ GoFundMe page and Chidester’s footage on WXYZ/YouTube.
Marshella Chidester, the Michigan woman responsible for the fatal accident, was found guilty of second-degree murder for plowing her vehicle into the boat club during what was supposed to be a joyous birthday party for children. It was a unique DUI case where prosecutors presented video evidence from inside Chidester’s residence, showing her engaging in heavy drinking and exhibiting signs of intoxication.
Commenting on the unconventional use of security footage in the case, Assistant Monroe County Prosecutor Jeff Yorkey expressed astonishment at the incident, stating that such events were rare. Chidester was officially convicted on Thursday, highlighting the seriousness of the situation and the tragic consequences of her actions.
It reportedly took jurors just 90 minutes to deliver a guilty verdict after a four-day trial this week, where they were shown security footage from the day of the crash showing the 67-year-old consuming wine and stumbling inside her Newport residence, which is roughly 30 miles south of the Motor City.
“I had not seen that video at all,” Brian Phillip, father of the two victims, Alanah and Zayn Phillips, told the Detroit Free Press. “I seen her in the house walking and seeing how she was still staggering, it was haunting to see. My kids were still alive at that point … if she would have just stopped, my kids would still be alive.”
According to prosecutors, Chidester consumed a bevy of small, single-serving wine bottles that day and also visited a local bar. Security video captured inside her home shows her drinking at around 2:32 p.m.; testimony from a local store clerk placed her at the business at around 9 a.m. purchasing a four-pack of single serving pinot grigio and a regular-sized bottle of red wine.
“She took my grandbabies from us,” said Alanah and Zayn’s grandmother Kathy Phillips at a hearing last year. “She made that choice to go in that car, and she chose to drink and drive.”
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Two days after the incident, the children’s mother Maria Dodds filed a lawsuit against the owner of the local bar that Chidester visited, claiming it was negligent when it served Chidester while she was “visibly intoxicated.” The suit argued that the bar should have stopped letting Chidester drink and given her an alternate means of transportation.
“We are saddened beyond words by the news of this horrible tragedy,” the bar’s attorney John McManus, of McManus Law, said in a statement. “Our most sincere thoughts and prayers go out to all those that lost their lives, their family members, witnesses and all of our Community that is in pain due to this incident. We ask for patience during the investigation and that the Justice system be allowed to work to uncover the actual facts surrounding the accident.”
In addition to murder, Chidester was found guilty of operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing death and five counts of operating while intoxicated causing serious injury. She was ordered to be held until her sentencing on May 15.
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