Man charged with murder for Randolph County crash that killed pregnant woman; family mourns loss

MOBERLY, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Moberly man is facing multiple murder charges after an April 6 head-on collission on Route M killed a pregnant woman.

Steven Lee Garrett, 47, is charged with two counts of second-degree murder, armed-criminal action and four counts of driving while intoxicated (including death of two, causing serious physical injury, causing physical injury and aggravated DWI). Garrett was not listed on the Randolph County Jail roster on Wednesday.

Garrett was arrested earlier this month while he was still in the hospital, following the crash. Garrett has previous convictions for DWI from 2005 and 2008. The probable cause statement lists a third DWI in 2009.

Maya Stilwell, of Moberly, was killed in the head-on collision, according to a Missouri State Highway Patrol crash report. She was 22. Stilwell was about six or seven months pregnant, according to the probable cause statement.

Randolph County ambulances took Maya's 23-year-old fiancé Conar Maylee and 2-year-old daughter Delilah Stilwell-Maylee to University Hospital in Columbia with moderate injuries.

Conar said he suffered from a fracture/chipped tibia, while their now 3-year-old daughter Delilah suffered from a fractured pinky, lacerated lungs and intestines. Conar and Delilah are now recovering at home as they continue to mourn the loss of Maya.

"The only thing she really cared about was being a good mom, and she did a really good job at it" Conar Maylee said.

Delilah is nonverbal, but Conar said she still gets happy whenever he shows her a picture of Maya.

"I show her a picture of her mom, and she says mom and cresses her check in the picture, and she'll listen if she hears a video of her talking, or may talking, and she'll just try to look at it and listen to it, and see what's going on," he said.

Conar said Maya was the kind of person who would give her shirt off of her back to anybody in need.

"She's a very good person. She helped out a lot of people from what I heard," he said. "At Dollar General, she would pay for people's groceries if they didn't have enough money.... she would try to help anybody that she could."

At the scene, a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper noticed the smell of intoxicants from Garrett’s vehicle and noticed his eyes were bloodshot and watery, according to the probable cause statement.

Garrett allegedly told the trooper that he was texting his spouse when the crash occurred. He also allegedly told the trooper that he knew that he was in the wrong lane and that he consumed “four or five drinks,” with his last drink occurring “right before (the crash) happened,” according to the probable cause statement.

"The guy was drunk driving on Thursday afternoon at one o'clock," Maylee said. "There's no reason anybody should be drinking and driving, ever. He killed two people and destroyed a family that was growing."

The trooper administered a preliminary breath test and horizontal gaze nystagmus and determined Garrett was “highly impaired.” Garrett also allegedly submitted a chemical test for his blood.