BUNNELL – After about an hour of deliberation, a Flagler County jury found Leigha Mumby, 25, guilty of vehicular homicide and reckless driving causing serious bodily injury in the Super Bowl Sunday 2025 crash on I-95 that eventually killed her boyfriend, Daniel Waterman, 22.
Mumby cried as the verdicts were read and was sobbing when the judge revoked her bond. She was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs. No sentencing date has been announced.
The verdict ends a case that moved through the Flagler County courts for more than a year and drew national attention. It was continued six times, a pattern that frustrated Waterman’s family and the community members who rallied behind them.
The crash
On Feb. 9, 2025, Mumby and Waterman were driving home from a Super Bowl party when they began arguing. Mumby had learned that morning that she was pregnant. She was upset because she suspected Waterman of texting other women. His mother later said the message in question was an innocent exchange with a friend in New York, a fellow football fan rooting for the other team.
Mumby’s SUV left northbound I-95 and hit a tree. She suffered broken bones. Waterman, who grew up near Syracuse, New York, had multiple fractures, including a broken neck, and was paralyzed. He was treated at Halifax Hospital in Daytona Beach and later transferred to SUNY Upstate Medical University Hospital in Syracuse. His family traveled from New York to stay with him through months of hospitalization.
Waterman died on Oct. 8, 2025, from pneumonia related to his injuries. He was 22.
How the case unfolded
The Florida Highway Patrol concluded Mumby caused the crash on purpose. Their conclusion rested on Waterman’s account to investigators, which he gave by letter board and later, after a speaking valve was placed in May, aloud. It also rested on a reconstruction of the crash from the vehicle’s computer data. Mumby told investigators she did not remember what caused it.
She was arrested in July 2025 and charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and reckless driving causing serious bodily injury. After Waterman died, prosecutors added a vehicular homicide charge. Mumby turned herself in at the Flagler County jail on Oct. 29 and was released on $150,000 bond. The aggravated battery charge was dropped before trial.
What jurors heard
Prosecutors, led by Assistant State Attorney Melissa Clark, relied heavily on the SUV’s recorded data. In the final seconds, it showed Mumby going about 94 mph with the gas pedal pressed nearly to the floor. Two sharp steering movements followed, sending the vehicle toward the trees at roughly 70 mph. Prosecutors also noted that Mumby never told paramedics about any outside force. They called her an angry driver acting recklessly and stressed they did not have to prove she intended harm, only a willful disregard for safety.
Mumby’s attorney, Jacksonville lawyer Reid Hart, said the pedal spike was momentary and that she let off almost immediately, which he argued showed she wasn’t trying to speed up. The defense argued that something interrupted her driving and that she had no reason to endanger herself, Waterman or her unborn child. Jurors didn’t accept that.
The child
Mumby gave birth to Waterman’s child on Oct. 11, 2025, three days after his death. Waterman’s mother, Heather Waterman, filed suit in Flagler County Circuit Court seeking grandparental visitation. The family also sought custody, pending the results of a paternity test.
What’s next
Sentencing has not been scheduled.
Photos courtesy courttv.com.
The post Jury Convicts Leigha Mumby of Vehicular Homicide in I-95 Crash That Killed Daniel Waterman first appeared on Flagler County Buzz.
