SPOKANE, Wash. – Nine months after hitting and killing two people while drunk driving, 30-year-old Megan Skillingstad was sentenced to nearly 11 years in prison Monday afternoon, as her victims’ families wiped their tears through the hearing.
“Goodbyes hurt the most when the story was not finished,” a court presenter read on behalf of victim Desmond Miller’s family.
Tears flowed throughout the courtroom January 29 during Megan Skillingstad’s sentence hearing, nine months after she killed 33-year-old Kady McFeron and 25-year-old Desmond Miller while driving drunk in Airway Heights the night of April 29, 2023.
Skillingstad faced two counts of vehicular homicide and one count of fatal hit-and-run. The 30-year-old pled guilty to all three counts Monday afternoon. Sadly, this is the second time the young woman was involved in an incident similar to this.
In 2011, Skillingstad hit 76-year-old Dennis Widener at the corner of Empire and Division, while he was riding his bike. She fled the scene back then, as well, waiting over a month to turn herself in. Widener died in the hospital, and Skillingstad spent less than a year behind bars for the crime.
However, on Monday, she learned she will spend much longer in the system for these two most recent deaths. Though the prosecution and defense had previously come to an agreement on a 111-month sentence, which is the low-end of what Skillingstad could face for her charges, Judge Raymond Clary said he couldn’t do it.
“In the end, I can’t find that I can sentence on the low-end,” Judge Clary said. “I’m really struggling with this one, where I’m going to end up is on the mid-range, 129 months, which is 10.75 years.”
Before she was sentenced, the families of each victim spoke before Skillingstad. When Kady McFeron was killed, her three children were left behind. Letters written by each child, two boys and one girl, were read on Monday afternoon.
“Megan drank and drove on April 29, she chose to drink and drive, she could have called someone, she could have walked, but she doesn’t care,” McFeron’s family friend read on behalf of her daughter. “She doesn’t care about my mom; the joyful, beautiful woman who did nothing wrong. The same woman who I will never see again or won’t be there to see me graduate or get married. I won’t hear my mother laugh again or smile at me, all because Megan couldn’t think about the consequences.”
McFeron’s mother, Diana Hale, who we first met in May 2023 as she stood next to a cross crafted for her daughter, also had a chance to speak before Skillingstad.
“I can understand people make mistakes, the part I can’t understand is not calling for help,” Hale said. “Can you process how that felt? My child laying there, my daughter crying.”
Family members and friends also took to the podium to read impact statements on behalf of Skillingstad’s other victim, and friend of McFeron’s, Desmond Miller.
The same went for Skillingstad – her supporters voicing the kind, sweet woman they believe her to be.
Emotions ran incredibly high throughout the nearly three-hour hearing. Toward the end, Skillingstad had her chance to address her victims’ families. She cried, her body shaking, through giving her statement before Judge Clary.
“I have thought about this night every day for the past nine months and will continue to for the rest of my life,” Skillingstad said. “I know what I did was wrong, I chose to drink and drive, and I took the lives of two people. I deeply regret my actions, and the life I have taken from Kady and Desmond.”
According to authorities, Skillingstad’s blood alcohol content was at 0.113 hours after the crash that killed McFeron and Miller. She never called 911.
