SPARTANBURG, S.C. — A South Carolina woman will spend the next 25 years in prison after being convicted in a 2021 wrong-way DUI crash that killed three Fishers teenagers.
Melissa Ann Parker, 43, was sentenced Monday to 25 years in prison after being found guilty of several felonies including DUI resulting in death and assault and battery. 7News in South Carolina reported Parker was also ordered to pay over $75,000 in restitution.
The charges stem from a 2021 crash in Spartanburg that killed 17-year-olds Elleana Lee Gaddis and Isabella Lee Gaddis and 18-year-old Brianna Lynn Foster, all of Fishers. The girls were just 10 minutes away from the destination when Parker hit them head-on in a stolen car.
Police and EMS crews were called around 2 a.m. on Aug. 16, 2021, to Interstate 26 for a serious head-on collision. The driver of the car that was going the wrong way – later identified as Parker – reportedly crawled through the back windshield and left the scene following the crash.