West Plains, MO. – A West Plains man was arrested late last month on a warrant for involuntary manslaughter during a car crash in May 2023.
Everett Neal Moss, age 21, is charged with felony 1st-degree involuntary manslaughter for the death of Charlotte Wilson on May 20, 2023. He was indicted by a grand jury in November 2023 and arrested on Jan. 27th by the Howell County Sheriff’s Office. Moss is being held on a $75,000 cash or corporate surety bond.
According to the probable cause statement by West Plains Police, Moss had been driving a Hyundai Santa Fe when he failed to negotiate a curve on State Route BB, traveling off the roadway and into the ditch. The high rate of speed of the vehicle propelled it through a large cedar tree, a telephone box, and then another large cedar tree that caused catastrophic damage to the vehicle, splitting it nearly in half. The vehicle then became airborne, spinning in the air, before hitting the ground facing south.
Wilson, a 33-year-old mother of three, had been a passenger in the vehicle and had been in the worst damaged portion. She was pronounced deceased at the scene by Howell County Coroner Tim Cherry.
Moss had received minor injuries at the time and is quoted as telling investigators he had been driving “too fast, maybe 50-60” when he was asked how fast he was going at the time of the crash.
Investigators determined the vehicle traveled 391 feet after leaving the roadway before striking the tree and determined the vehicle to be traveling a minimum speed of 68 miles per hour at the time it had left the roadway.
Investigators were able to find data from Wilson’s Life360 app on her phone that recorded that during the time of the crash, it had reached speeds of 98 miles per hour. Life360 is a family location-sharing app that can track multiple points of data, including the speed at which one is traveling.
Police determined Moss had a revoked driving status at the time of the crash. Moss provided police with a blood sample to determine if anything had been in his system during the time of the crash. On Oct. 16, 2023, the results returned from the Missouri State Highway Patrol Crime Lab, determined Moss had methamphetamine, amphetamine, and Zolpidem in his system at the time of the crash. Zolpidem is more commonly known by its brand name, Ambien.
