Murder and kidnapping charges against a woman accused of carjacking and then crashing a car with a passenger inside were dropped, in part because the medical examiner has not ruled on the manner of the passenger’s death, prosecutors said.
The judge ordered the suspect, 22-year-old Kayla Kenisha Brown, of Southeast D.C., remain held without bond on a charge of unarmed carjacking.
Leslie Marie Gaines’ daughter left her mother in a Mazda SUV at MedStar Washington Hospital Center for a moment Monday afternoon to get her a wheelchair, police said.
At the time, Brown was with her family at the hospital in the 100 block of Irving Street NW when she walked away from them, police said. Brown allegedly got into the driver’s seat and took off with the 55-year-old Gaines still inside.
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Nineteen minutes later, Brown tried to turn left onto D Street but “failed to negotiate the turn” and crashed into the building at 601 D Street NW, 3 miles away from MedStar, police said. The building is the offices of the U.S. attorney and attorney general for D.C.
A police officer immediately detained Brown.
Gaines was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead.
In a report introduced in court Friday, D.C. Fire and EMS said paramedics found no injuries to Gaines, and it’s unclear if she died from trauma or other medical issues. Gaines had multiple sclerosis and had been fainting before the carjacking, according to evidence introduced Friday.
Police can’t account for the 19 minutes between the carjacking and the crash, saying they have no images of the SUV during that time.
