MONROE COUNTY, Mich. – The trial for a woman accused of driving through a Monroe County birthday party and killing two children began Monday.
Marshella Chidester is accused of driving drunk in April 2024, when she crashed into the Swan Boat Club in Monroe County. At the time, a birthday party was being held inside the boat club.
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Chidester was charged with two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of operating under the influence of liquor causing death and four counts of OUIL causing serious injury.
The 67-year-old lived next door to the boatyard in Berlin Township, just off Lake Erie. Surveillance video from Chidester’s own home captured her leaving on the day of the crash, carefully walking down the stairs before slowly, unsteadily and deliberately walking toward her car. After getting in the vehicle, the video shows her backing out of her driveway and out of frame, where she hit her neighbor’s truck in the neighbor’s driveway before speeding off to go to the birthday party.
Prosecutors argued the video shows that Chidester left her home not fully in control before driving her car through the boat club wall.
The vehicle was reportedly driven 25 feet inside the building.
What happened in the trial
A jury was seated at about 11:30 a.m. and opening statements began at about 1 p.m.
Eight witnesses were called on the first day, including the mother who was throwing the birthday party. Witnesses described how Chidester acted and what she said following the crash.
Those who testified said they thought a bomb had gone off at first.
Krysten Sigler, who was throwing a birthday party for her son, testified that she stepped outside Monroe County’s Swan Boat Club to FaceTime a friend. She said it was the only reason she happened to slightly miss the SUV plowing into the group of partygoers.
4-year-old Zayn Phillips was trapped underneath. He and his 8-year-old sister Alana were killed.
“I put him on my lap, and the back of his head was bleeding and his arm was limp and bloody,” Sigler recalled.
Several witnesses testified they could smell alcohol on Chidester’s breath. The defense said she only had one glass of wine that she didn’t finish, but that she suffers from seizures and her blood draw wasn’t properly handled.
