Truck cleaned at dealership where suspects worked after fatal Coast hit-and-run, records say
A Gulfport woman charged in the fatal hit-and-run deaths of two people on a motorcycle told police she fled the scene because she was drunk and afraid of getting arrested, according to court records filed in the case.
Taylor Marie Habina, who listed her employment at the Champion Chrysler Dodge Jeep dealership in Gulfport, said she was driving a co-defendant’s 2021 RAM 1500 pickup truck when she hit Jason Anthony Stone in the middle of the left lane of Lorraine Road.
Further down the road, Gulfport police found the couple’s motorcycle. Jason Stone’s body was wrapped in skirting only found on a RAM 1500 pickup truck, which helped authorities identify one of two suspected vehicles involved in the crash.
Habina has been arrested on a charge of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in deaths of Stone and his girlfriend, Cassie Bowman, in the early morning hours of May 29, during Memorial Day weekend.
Habina told police she panicked and drove off and several days later she noticed blood on the truck owned by her co-worker, Jason Christopher Smith.
Smith, who was later arrested on a charge of accessory after the fact and tampering with physical evidence, told Habina he had taken the truck to the Champion dealership where they worked and cleaned off the blood “to destroy the physical evidence.”
Both Habina and Smith are free on bond.
Habina bonded out of the Harrison County jail on a $75,000 bond, while Smith got out of jail on a $100,000 bond.
Police arrested a third person, 39-year-old Josef Randal Murph, on one count of hindering prosecution before his release on a $10,000 bond.
Gulfport police are still searching for a second vehicle spotted at the crash scene by surveillance cameras: a dark-colored SUV with heavy front-end damage.
To report information, call the Gulfport Police Department at 228-868-5959 or anonymously call Mississippi Crime Stoppers at 601-355-8477.
This story was originally published June 17, 2021 at 11:15 AM.
