Teen turns herself in for deadly Columbia crash

A teen turned herself in for a deadly crash near Rangeline and Vandiver last fall in north Columbia.

Ashley Renee Moore, 17, was taken into custody after turning herself over to the Boone County Sheriff’s Department around 2:25 Monday afternoon.

Witnesses say a vehicle swerved out of the lane, lost control and hit two pedestrians October 13, 2014. At first, Moore claimed she ran off the road to avoid hitting another vehicle that was heading the wrong way.

Columbia police finished its investigation in November, and found Moore’s driving was the only reason she lost control of her car and hit two pedestrians, CPD said.

“According to our investigators, they had determined that it’s unknown if Moore was distracted during this while driving,” Bryana Maupin with the Colubmia Police Department said. “But they did not find any evidence that there was a second vehicle involved in this incident.”

Dianna Barney, 44, was taken to University Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Michael Johnson, 52, was also injured.

Just seven days before Barney died, she also witnessed an unrelated homicide near the same area. Anthony Shegog was later arrested, accused of stabbing Walter Lige, 59, in a yard off Washington Avenue behind Hickman Hickman High School. Shegog reportedly became jealous because Dianna Barney was talking to Lige.

On March 9, the Boone County Prosecutor’s office put out a warrant for Moore’s arrest for a misdemeanor charge of careless and imprudent driving. Columbia police said they sent a warrant request to the prosecutor back in November for more serious charges.

“The warrant request that was submitted back in November, our officers had submitted the request for involuntary manslaughter and assault second,” Maupin said. “And so it’s up to the prosecuting attorney on how they file those charges.”

Abc 17 News talked to Boone County Assistant Prosecutor Jessica Caldera who filed charges against Moore. Caldera said she waited to file charges until this month because she wanted to carefully consider the evidence first. And when asked why she chose to file lesser charges, Caldera said, “This incident was obviously a tragedy. I filed the charges that were best supported by the evidence.”

Moore has been released from the Boone County Jail. No court date has been set for Moore at this time.