Woman dubbed Mackenzie Shirilla 2.0 sobs pathetically as she’s convicted of killing boyfriend by deliberately crashing car into tree

DAILYMAIL.COM • 1h ago

By LAURA PARNABY, US SENIOR NEWS REPORTER 17:50 14 Oct 2026, updated 18:23 14 Oct 2026

A 25-year-old Florida woman dubbed ‘Mackenzie Shirilla 2.0’ sobbed in court as she was convicted of killing her boyfriend by deliberately smashing her car into a tree.

Leigha Mumby was found guilty of vehicular homicide and reckless driving on Wednesday, after Daniel Waterman, 22, died in October last year from injuries sustained in the crash eight months earlier.

Waterman’s family previously told the Daily Mail the case is eerily similar to that of Mackenzie Shirilla, 23, who was jailed for killing her boyfriend and his friend by intentionally crashing into a brick wall in Ohio on July 31, 2022.

Mumby, who was pregnant at the time of her horror collision on February 9, 2025, and is now a mother, was found guilty by a jury who deliberated for just one hour.

Tears streamed down her face as she gasped while breaking into loud sobs as the verdict was read out in the Flagler County courthouse on Wednesday.

Mumby faces up to 30 years in jail under Florida law for the vehicular homicide conviction and up to five years for reckless driving causing serious bodily injury.

Waterman’s heartbroken aunt, Tiffany, told the Daily Mail that the family initially believed the crash was an accident – until her partially-paralyzed nephew was able to communicate what really happened using a letterboard.

The victim disclosed to his relatives and a police officer that he had been arguing with Mumby in the moments before the crash, and she told him: ‘I don’t care what happens, you’ll get what you deserve’ before accelerating to 93mph.

Mumby told detectives that she had no memory of what happened before the wreck, and denied all charges. Jurors did not buy her side of the story.

Ahead of the murder trial, which started on Monday, Waterman’s family shared harrowing video with the Daily Mail of the victim, who was a beloved landscaper, fading in and out of consciousness nine days after the collision.

Waterman’s aunt, Tiffany, said their tight-knit family from upstate New York initially believed the crash was an accident, and they wheeled Mumby to his hospital bed after surrounding him with photographs of the couple during happier times.

In the footage, Mumby can be seen in her wheelchair wearing a hospital gown as she held his left hand, which Tiffany said he repeatedly tried to pull away from her.

‘He shook his head when Leigha came up to his bed,’ she told the Daily Mail. ‘He was coming in and out of consciousness, so we thought he was confused. When she tried to hold his hand, he pulled away. We didn’t know why at the time.’

Waterman can also be seen jerking his head in apparent panic as he woke up beside Mumby in the video, while his relatives tried to comfort him, telling him ‘you’re safe now’.

His mouth is obscured by several tubes and he could not speak, but Tiffany said that he later used a letterboard to tell his mother that Mumby had crashed the car on purpose after accusing him of cheating on her.

‘He still had tubes in his mouth, but he said: “Help me, help me. She killed me, she killed me,”‘ Tiffany said, adding that he also turned the photographs of Mumby face-down once he regained movement in his arms.

An affidavit obtained by the Daily Mail shows that Waterman told Police Officer Darin Harper the same story when interviewed about the crash on May 15, 2025.

‘Daniel stated, the last thing he remembers before the crash was Leigha told him, “I don’t care what happens, you’ll get what you deserve” and swerved off the roadway, colliding with a tree,’ Harper wrote in the affidavit.

The nightmare began on the night of February 9, 2025, as Mumby drove her white Honda Passport through Flagler County with Waterman in the passenger seat just before 10.30pm.

Mumby had learned earlier that day that she was pregnant, and the couple had just left a Super Bowl party hosted by Waterman’s cousins, who are also Tiffany’s children, suddenly and without saying goodbye to anyone, according to his aunt.

Tiffany told the Mail that Mumby had shown Waterman and his cousin, Sarah, a positive pregnancy test before the party, before privately telling Sarah: ‘I will make sure Daniel never cheats on me again’.

The police affidavit details how Mumby’s Honda hurtled down Interstate 95 and accelerated to a speed of about 93mph five seconds before the crash at 10.25pm.

Officer Harper wrote in the arrest document that the accelerator pedal reached ‘100 percent throttle’ by the time of impact.

He added that ‘the brakes were not applied’ and ‘a notable steering input of 45 degrees right followed by a sudden left input of 30 degrees’ was applied seconds before the collision.

The Honda was destroyed in the crash, and firefighters had to extract the couple from the wreckage before rushing them to hospital.

Mumby sustained ‘serious injuries’, while Waterman suffered several ‘life threatening injuries’ to his chest and lung, along with blood clots and fractures to his spine, clavicle, and femur, a dislocated hip.

Officer Harper wrote in the affidavit that he interviewed Waterman on May 15, 2025, and the alleged victim told him that he had been arguing with Mumby in the moments before the crash.

Waterman said they squabbled about ‘personal issues, with Leigha finding out she was pregnant that day and a text message Daniel received from a female friend in New York,’ according to the affidavit.

‘Daniel and Leigha exchanged expletives,’ the document adds. Waterman told Officer Harper that ‘Leigha began driving recklessly’ before initially slowing down to 50 miles per hour.

Waterman told the officer he ‘tried to get out of the car’ at this point, but Mumby ‘began to speed up to 80 to 90 miles per hour’ before telling him: ‘I don’t care what happens, you’ll get what you deserve’.

Tiffany said Waterman lived in Liverpool, close to Syracuse in upstate New York, with his family, and they took it in turns to fly to Flagler, Florida, during his treatment in hospital so that somebody was always by his side.

She told the Mail her nephew suffered from night terrors in the aftermath of the crash. ‘He would wake up crying and cover his face with his arm,’ she said.

Tiffany added that Waterman met Mumby on the Bumble dating app while he was visiting Flagler County in January 2024, and they had an on-again-off-again long distance relationship until the collision.

Mumby even met Waterman’s family in leafy Liverpool during November 2024 for Thanksgiving. ‘She seemed sweet, friendly and quiet,’ Tiffany told the Mail. ‘She didn’t say much.

‘After the crash, what I felt for her was concern. I even texted her saying: “We are family now, anything you need for the baby, let me know”. We took her in. We loved her, she was one of us. To find this out was heartbreaking.’

Tiffany added that due to an automatic court-ordered restraining order forbidding contact between Mumby and the Watermans, they have not been able to meet Daniel’s child, a little girl born three days after he died.

She told the Mail that the family is now fighting a battle on two fronts – one in criminal court for justice, and another in civil court for custody of the baby.

‘Our biggest concern is definitely the safety and well-being of the baby and making sure she’s in a loving home,’ Tiffany told the Mail.

‘We don’t feel like that is with a person capable of all of these crimes.’

Tiffany compared the case to that of Shirilla, who was handed two life sentences in August 2023 for killing her boyfriend Dominic Russo, 20, and his friend David Flanagan, 19, during the early hours of July 31, 2022, in Strongsville, Ohio.

Shirilla slammed her car at 100mph into a brick wall. She was 17 years old at the time of the slaughter, and her sentence includes the possibility of parole after 15 years.

‘I was shocked by how similar the cases are,’ Tiffany told the Mail.

This is a breaking news story with updates to follow.

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