A St. Louis man was sentenced to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to killing five members of the same family in a high-speed crash during a police pursuit, a case that has lingered in the city for nearly four years and ended with raw grief in the courtroom.
The sentence closes the criminal case against Marshawn D. Stepney, 21, who admitted he was behind the wheel of a stolen SUV that slammed into a family’s minivan at a busy intersection in May 2022. Prosecutors said the collision killed five relatives traveling together and seriously hurt two children who survived. During the sentencing hearing this week, family members described the empty seats at birthdays and holidays, and said Stepney turned toward them and smirked as they spoke.
Stepney was sentenced Tuesday by St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Clinton Wright under a plea deal reached last month. Court records and officials said Stepney pleaded guilty in January to five counts of second-degree murder, two counts of first-degree assault and additional charges that included tampering with a vehicle and leaving the scene of a crash. The plea allowed the court to impose a fixed 25-year prison term instead of taking the case to trial, where prosecutors could have sought a longer sentence.
The deaths happened May 6, 2022, during a chaotic chain of events that began with a stolen gray 2015 Jeep Cherokee linked to multiple vehicle thefts in the St. Louis area. Authorities said the Jeep sideswiped another vehicle near Delmar Boulevard and Union Boulevard. A passenger in the Jeep fired shots at the other vehicle, officials said, prompting the other driver to call 911. Police located the Jeep and attempted to stop it, but the driver kept going, weaving through city streets and reaching speeds above 80 mph, authorities said.
Investigators said officers deployed spike strips in an effort to slow the Jeep, but the chase continued through densely traveled corridors. The pursuit ended when the Jeep crashed into a minivan near the intersection of Delmar Boulevard and Pendleton Avenue. The impact killed five people inside the minivan: Lahronda Simmons, 34; Luther Simmons, 44; Ephriam Simmons, 47; Anngelique Simmons, 52; and Takira Thompson, 11. Two girls, ages 8 and 16, were injured and taken to a hospital, officials said. Prosecutors described their injuries as serious and life-altering.
Authorities said Stepney did not stay at the scene. In the confusion after the crash, he left the area, then returned hours later and spoke to a resident who lived nearby, according to accounts presented in court. Prosecutors said he called his mother to pick him up. He was arrested 12 days after the crash, after investigators tied him to the stolen Jeep and the pursuit, officials said. The case remained a focus for the victims’ relatives as it moved slowly through the court system.
At Tuesday’s hearing, the Simmons family’s pain filled the courtroom in victim impact statements, with relatives describing a close-knit group that was traveling together before their lives were cut short. Elinor Simmons, the family’s grandmother, said she watched Stepney turn around in court and appear to smirk. “He’s smiling,” she said, describing the moment and adding that she saw no remorse. She said the crash took away not only the five who died, but also the sense of safety the family once felt moving through their neighborhood and their city.
Judge Wright, speaking from the bench, acknowledged the limits of the legal system in the face of such loss. Relatives said he praised the family’s strength and told them that no sentence could truly match what was taken. The judge’s comments underscored a central tension in the case: a fixed prison term that ends one chapter in court, while survivors continue to live with grief and the consequences of serious injuries. The court did not immediately release a full transcript of the hearing, but officials confirmed the sentence followed the negotiated plea agreement.
Prosecutors said the plea deal reflected the certainty of a lengthy sentence without the burden of a trial that would force survivors to relive the crash in open court. The charges Stepney admitted to were serious and numerous. Second-degree murder in Missouri applies when someone causes a death knowingly or with disregard that rises above ordinary negligence, and prosecutors argued that Stepney’s actions behind the wheel during the chase met that standard. The first-degree assault counts were tied to the two children who survived with serious injuries.
The case also drew attention because it involved alleged gunfire during the initial encounter and because authorities charged others connected to the same stolen Jeep. Law enforcement charged Jaylen Holland, 20, with five counts of second-degree murder, armed criminal action and multiple felony stealing counts. Investigators alleged Holland was in the back of the Jeep and was found near a pistol. Walter Burton, 20, was also charged with five counts of second-degree murder and theft-related crimes. Authorities alleged Burton was in the passenger seat and was found with an assault-style rifle between his legs. The status of those cases was not resolved by Stepney’s sentence.
The crash happened at an intersection that sits amid everyday city life, where people drive to work, children ride in the back seats of family cars and buses pass on regular routes. After the collision, the area became a focal point for grief, with relatives and community members leaving memorial items and repeatedly returning to the scene. In court filings, prosecutors described a violent impact that left little chance for those inside the minivan. The death toll—five from one family in a single moment—made the case stand out even in a city that has long struggled with violent crime and dangerous driving.
Stepney’s plea came after years of investigation and pretrial litigation. Prosecutors said the stolen Jeep was tied to several thefts, adding a pattern of alleged criminal behavior leading up to the day of the crash. The pursuit and the crash raised broader questions about what happens when police attempt to stop a suspect in a moving vehicle and the risk such chases pose to the public. Officials did not announce policy changes tied directly to this case, but the deaths renewed familiar debates in St. Louis over the balance between enforcement and safety on crowded city streets.
Relatives said their family’s story is not only one of loss but also of the people the victims were before the crash. They described adults who worked, cared for children and looked after one another, and an 11-year-old girl whose life was still unfolding. In statements to local media after court, family members said they wanted the public to remember names and faces, not only the violent way they died. Some came to court wearing shirts printed with photos of the victims, turning the hearing into both a legal proceeding and a public memorial.
The sentence means Stepney will serve time in the Missouri Department of Corrections, with the exact release date dependent on state rules for time served and parole eligibility. Legal experts note that a 25-year sentence is substantial for a defendant in his early 20s, but it is also finite, and that reality can feel jarring to families who view the crash as a permanent rupture. Prosecutors emphasized that the guilty plea covered the deaths and the serious injuries, and they said the sentence reflected the severity of the conduct leading up to the collision.
For the survivors and the family members who spoke in court, the hearing was about being heard as much as it was about punishment. They described the moment Stepney appeared to smile as a fresh wound, a sign, in their view, that the person responsible did not grasp the scale of what happened. Even so, they said they came to court to look him in the eye and to tell the judge what the loss has meant in daily life: empty rooms, missed milestones, and the long work of helping injured children heal.
With Stepney sentenced, attention now turns to the remaining cases tied to the chase and to the long-term recovery of the injured children. Court officials have not announced trial dates for the other defendants, but prosecutors have said the broader investigation continues through separate prosecutions. For the Simmons family, the next milestone will not come from a courtroom calendar but from the quieter markers of grief—anniversaries, birthdays and the continuing care for the survivors.
Author note: Last updated February 12, 2026.