CHESTERFIELD, Va. – Five people total were left dead, and two injured, on May 29, 2015, when suspect Stafford Shaw crashed on Interstate 295 after killing his estranged girlfriend and her child.
Shaw was killed after igniting a four-vehicle wreck Friday afternoon on I-295 in Mechanicsvillethat left two other people dead and two others injured.
The bodies of 34-year-old Morgan R. Rogers and one-year-old Leah Rogers were found inside a home in the 20300 block of Ferintosh Court, when police responded to the home at about 12:10 p.m. for a welfare check.
Shaw’s family made claims that Morgan, his estranged girlfriend who had a protective order out, had killed the child and he killed her. Police had disputed the claims by Shaw’s family and said evidence at the scene showed that would've been physically impossible.
According to Chesterfield Police spokeswoman Elizabeth Caroon, Shaw admitted he killed both before he crashed on 295, and killed two more people.
Their evidence came from both text messages and phone conversations.
Police also said that all evidence at the crime scene indicated that he shot and killed both and that there was "no doubt."
Devastating high-impact crash took the lives of two others
Sgt. Vick, with state police, said a trooper spotted the suspect’s car, a silver Chevrolet Corvette, on I-295 north. When that trooper activated his lights, Vick said the suspect sped away at a high speed.
Within seconds, the Chevrolet ran off the left shoulder, went through the grassy median and struck a Chevrolet sedan that was traveling south on I-295 in the left lane, according to police.
The Chevrolet sedan then spun around striking a Nissan in the southbound lanes. As the Nissan Sentra spun around it was struck by a Lincoln MKZ, also traveling in the southbound lanes of I-295.
Wendell E. Hayman, 65, of Kansas City, Kansas and Ethel D. Ellis, 66, of Washington, D.C., were both pronounced dead at the crash scene. Hayman and Ellis were brother and sister, according to police. They were driving the Chevy Malibu.
Shaw also died on the scene.
