The parents of an 18-year-old killed in a horror car crash want the driver's mom disciplined after alarming texts surfaced online.
On November 17, 2023, Kiernan Tague picked up his friend Flynn MacKrell from his parent's residence in Grosse Pointe, Michigan.
But just five minutes after picking up Flynn, the 17-year-old - who was traveling at 105mph - lost control of his mom's BMW X3 M series and slammed into a post and then a tree, as reported by the Detroit Free Press.
Flynn, a 6-foot-4 swimmer at the University of Dayton, died on impact while Kiernan was transported to a nearby hospital with serious injuries, but survived. The force of the impact completely obliterated his mother's vehicle.
While Kieran escaped with his life, he is now out on bond awaiting trial in Wayne County after being charged with second-degree murder in March.
"To say this is a living hell is an understatement," Flynn's mom, Anne Vanker, said, per the outlet. "My life has been ruined. My family’s life is ruined. No one should ever, ever have to lose a child like this ... I still can’t believe my son - my big calm son - is gone."
Nine months after the deadly wreck, Flynn's family is now seeking justice after investigators unearthed shocking text messages from the driver's mom, Elizabeth Puleo-Tague.
The messages indicate that the mom was aware of her son's speeding and even called him out on it two months before the deadly wreck after viewing a GPS app called Life360.
“Slow the f*** down right now!” she allegedly texted him on September 14 after the app alerted her that he was traveling at 123 mph in the family’s Audi coupe. In a separate text, she wrote to her son: “I have screenshots of you doing 90 mph in the middle of the night when I didn’t even know you had left… And again two weeks ago going 123 mph just because."
The worried mom even stressed to Kieran that his behavior "scares me to my bone," per the publication.
Weeks after Puleo-Tague confronted her son via text, she purchased a brand-new BMW, which she gave Kieran access to, and a few weeks after that, the horrific crash occurred.
Flynn's parents have now told The Detroit Free Press that Elizabeth should face criminal charges, with his devastated mother adding: "She was sitting on a ticking time bomb. She knows he's out of control, yet she basically gets him a weapon... It's like she handed him an AR-15."
They argued that the messages show that Elizabeth failed to take proper actions to prevent her child from harming others. They also penned in a letter to local prosecutors: "[Tague] was speeding over and over, and mom knew it," per Daily Mail.
Tague will not be charged as an adult but instead as an “adult designated,” meaning if he is sentenced, the judge could convict him as an adult or a juvenile or impose a blended sentence.
“I want him in prison for as long as possible,” Flynn's grieving mom said, stating that he deserves no leniency. “Why should he get a break? This kid had every break and every privilege there is.”
Tague is still awaiting a trial date.
Our thoughts are with Flynn's family and friends at this time.
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