Moberly woman pleads guilty to McDonald’s drive-thru shooting

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Moberly woman accused of shooting and killing a man in a Columbia McDonald's drive-thru was sentenced to 20 years in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to murder.

Angelica Benitez pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, abandonment of a corpse and evidence tampering Tuesday in a Boone County court. Judge Kevin Crane sentenced her to 20 years for murder, four years for corpse abandonment and four years for evidence tampering. The sentences will be served consecutively.

Benitez admitted to the December 2020 killing of Marqukis Hayes.

A probable cause statement says Benitez was in a pickup truck with Hayes and her boyfriend, who was driving, in the drive-thru of the Clark Lane McDonald's when she shot Hayes in the face with a pistol. The statement says Benitez's boyfriend told investigators he did not know why Benitez shot Hayes.

Officers went to the McDonald's the next day after Benitez's boyfriend called police, according to the statement. Investigators tied the truck to the scene using surveillance video, according to the statement.

Hayes was initially reported as missing.

After the shooting, Benitez and her boyfriend went to the Super 8 motel on Clark Lane, according to the statement. Benitez then drove away in a pickup truck which was later found in Valley Park, Missouri, with a dead body in the back seat, according to the statement. Investigators confirmed the body was that of Hayes, the document says.

Police say Benitez admitted to the shooting and moving the body. She was arrested in Moberly.