Clermont woman charged in crash that killed 4

A Clermont woman turned herself in to authorities this week, surrendering at the Lake County Jail on four counts of vehicular homicide that accuse her of smashing her pickup truck into a car in April, killing four women.

“It’s left a big hole in our families,” Jay Turner, cousin to three of the victims, said Thursday.

If convicted of the second-degree felonies, Heather Finley, 23, could be sentenced to 60 years in prison, 15 per count. She was booked into the county jail Wednesday and released on $30,000 bond.

The crash occurred about 2 a.m. April 8 on State Road 50 in Mascotte, a Lake County town of 5,600 people.

Shakeila Smith and Kambrea Smith, both 26 and from Leesburg; Tierra Chambers, 26, of Orlando; and Roslyn Felton, 29, of Wildwood were “all beautiful, all with bright futures,” said Turner, 37, who lamented their deaths in a Facebook post with a collage of the women’s pictures.

They were headed home from a night out.

“If sometimes we could understand why things happen the way they do, this is definitely one I couldn’t and still till this day, won’t understand,” wrote Turner, a postal worker in Wildwood whose postings often are religious. “God, reveal to me the mystery of your plan, I really wanna know!”

A small law-enforcement agency in south Lake, Mascotte police farmed out the traffic-homicide investigation to the larger Groveland Police Department.

Groveland didn’t respond to a records request Thursday but Mascotte provided a heavily redacted report that blotted out the names of not only the driver and owner of the truck but the victims who were killed.

The brief summary of the crash said the women’s vehicle, a 2018 Malibu sedan, had stopped at a stop sign and turned west on East Myers Boulevard, the road on which City Hall is located.

The truck was traveling east on East Myers and smashed into the Malibu’s driver’s side, spinning it in a circle and forcing it backward.

Part of the wreck was captured on Mascotte City Hall security cameras, City Manager Jim Gleason said.

Two of the women died at the crash scene and two others were transported by Lake EMS to Orlando Regional Medical Center, where one died that morning. The other, Shakeila Smith, died from her injuries May 18.

Finley had “minimal visible injuries,” the report says.

Florida law defines vehicular homicide as “the killing of a human being...caused by the operation of a motor vehicle by another in a reckless manner.” The charges do not outline specific details of the alleged recklessness.

Walter Forgie, Lake County supervisor for the State Attorney’s Office, said the investigation showed Finley was driving at a high speed through downtown at 2 a.m. when the crash occurred.

All of the victims were mothers of young children and Kambrea Smith had recently had a baby, Turner said.

Family members have posted several Facebook messages in memory of the women.

“If heaven had visiting hours, I’m pretty sure y’all would get tired of seeing us. LOL,” one read. “But it was all a part of God’s plan...Sleep tight, ladies. We’ll NEVER forget y’all!!” The post included an emoji of a broken heart.