Prosecutor asks for murder charges for women accused of kidnapping

Two women accused of kidnapping several children are charged with murder.

First Assistant Prosecutor Tracy Gonzalez added one count of second-degree murder to both Demetres Washington and Mackenzie Quiovers, on top of the three counts of kidnapping both already face.

Washington and Quiovers crashed a car on Route J and I-70 with three children inside on March 7, authorities said. Shianna Mays, 13, died from injuries she suffered during the crash, and two other children, Adrianna and Tyler Mays, were hurt, according to the Columbia Police Department. Washington and Quiovers were charged with kidnapping the children from Spiros Drive in a “custodial abduction.”

Missouri law allows prosecutors to file murder charges in the event someone dies in the alleged commission of a felony. Gonzalez filed the charge due, claiming Mays’ death was “as a result of the immediate flight from the perpetration of the class A felony of kidnapping.”

Gonzalez also asked the court for a $750,000 cash-only bond for both. The two women received a conditional release from the Boone County Jail for medical purposes. Quiovers absconded last week when she received surgery for her injuries in the crash at University Hospital, and never returned to the jail, Gonzalez said.