Family pushes for tighter laws, harsher penalties nearly 3 years after deadly drunk driving crash

Nia Hinson

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Jessica McKinlay was a firecracker, loved the outdoors and never hesitated to state her opinion on topics she was passionate about.

She was also the mother to five children, all of who she was protective of, her family says. But her life was cut short on the night of Jan. 3, 2022, when the vehicle she and five others were in was hit head-on by a drunk driver.

“I was watching the 9:00 news for Columbia and that was my vehicle. And I seen it. And I knew it,” Jessica’s mother Brenda Freeman said. “I had given Jessica my vehicle because her vehicle was in the shop and I didn’t want her to be in that one with the kids. I knew before the Highway Patrol even came to my house.”

Brenda Freeman received the call no mother ever wants to receive. Her oldest daughter Melissa Weber said troopers told her to make sure she was at home, so they could explain to her what happened.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol told her McKinlay, along with two other passengers in her vehicle — 34-year-old Christopher McClain and 10-year-old Carmella McClain — were all killed in the wreck. Keith Sumner, 19, also died in the crash, after troopers say he traveled southbound in the northbound lanes.

“It’s hard to say that they’re gone because even though it’s been three years, it’s hard to say that. I take the urn literally everywhere. She’s in my car, she’s riding in my front seat,” Weber said. “When she was here we were inseparable so losing her is…it’s definitely been a life change. They called us the three little ducks, they would see her (Freeman,) then me and then my little sister (Jessica) just waddling everywhere.”

The crash left three children — who were also involved in the crash — without a mother and father, with traumatic brain injuries and mobility complications, and forced to re-learn basic life skills.

One child, Caitlin, was 2-years-old at the time of the crash. Freeman and Weber say she woke up from a coma roughly a month later.

A second child involved in the crash, Nicholas woke up the week after the crash.

Natalie suffered severe injuries in the crash and had to be brought back from the brink of death multiple times, according to Freeman. Freeman said when she arrived to the hospital, she was faced with the question of whether or not to let her go.

“That part I remember well because I screamed out to Melissa, she was out in the waiting room talking to the police officers…that meant I was going to lose another girl,” Freeman said.

The two decided, instead, to send Natalie to St. Louis for treatment, having only a 5% chance of living.

Two months later, she woke up.

Years later, Weber is the guardian of the children who survived, but she and Freeman say the hardest part is making sure the children always remember their mother.

“I have voicemails for my sister and I will never let them forget what their mommy sounded like,” Weber said. “I have my sister’s pictures and her urn in our house. She’s literally still involved. They’ll draw pictures at school and I’ll say make sure you give mommy and daddy one.”

Former Dash Convenience and Liquor Store on Ninth Street sold alcohol to Sumner the day of the deadly crash, a Missouri State Highway Patrol investigation found. The store later lost its license to sell liquor months later, after an investigation found it had sold alcohol to Sumner several times.

Years later, the owners of the store were caught working at Spring Creek Liquor in south Columbia, despite Missouri law stating the two could not legally work at another liquor store until five years after revocation.

The store had its license revoked in August 2025, but Freeman and Weber don’t believe that’s enough.

“They should never be able to operate and sell alcohol or tobacco anymore, like ever,” Weber said. “It’s so easy for them to be able to reopen and continue doing what they’re doing without any repercussion, while the families that are at stake here…I mean it’s just devastating, there’s no words for it.”

Court records show Dashrath Patel– who formerly owner Dash Liquor– was charged with selling alcohol to a minor the day of the deadly crash. Court documents say he sold four 50 ml-sized bottles of alcohol to a “K.S.” He paid a $300 fine in January 2023.

Jay Patel, who also owned Dash, was also charged in December 2021 for supplying liquor to a minor. He was sentenced and paid a $300 fine in February 2023, though he’s seeking expungement.

Weber and Freeman say they’d like to see Missouri’s laws related to selling alcohol to a minor tightened up, calling what happened in their situation “a slap on the wrist.” They’d like to bring the matter to Gov. Mike Kehoe’s attention.

“I mean, so many people’s lives are destroyed by this,” Weber said. “When I heard he only had to pay the $300 fine, I wanted to go up there and show him these pictures of these babies on life support that no longer have parents at all.”

According to Boone County Prosecutor Roger Johnson, Missouri’s law related to selling alcohol to a minor is a B misdemeanor, and could land a fine, or up to six months in jail. A second offense, or an A misdemeanor can also be punishable by a fine and up to a year in jail.

There are also administrative consequences, or situations where the administrative agency needs a conviction to suspend a person’s liquor license.

Freeman said she has a hard time understanding why businesses and business owners are not held liable in these situations. She said she thinks every business should check customer’s licenses, no matter how old they look, saying it only takes one time for a situation to turn tragic.

“The employees need to be fired for that one mistake because all it takes is one time literally,” Freeman said. “But also the people that own the business, they should go over the tapes and see what’s going on in their store.”

Freeman and Weber also said they believe the ATC’s application process for obtaining a liquor license in the state isn’t thorough enough, saying the ATC should have caught that the Patels were working at the store sooner.

Communications Director Mike O’Connell told ABC 17 News via email that there are several items required by the ATC to receive a license, including a criminal record check, which must be sworn to under oath.

ABC 17 News reached out to a Patel family attorney.

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