Local driver indicted for involuntary manslaughter

WINCHESTER — The driver in a single-vehicle wreck in June that killed a teenage passenger has been indicted.

Kaila Marcy Neal, 18, of the 100 block of Warbler Drive, Stephens City, was indicted in October for involuntary manslaughter and reckless driving.

The victim, 18-year-old Saundra Papson of Stephens City, died June 14 — less than a week after receiving her diploma from Sherando High School.

She died at Winchester Medical Center after sustaining severe head injuries in the crash, which according to authorities occurred at about 10:30 a.m. that day in the 600 block of Town Run Lane off Fairfax Pike (Va. 277).

Lt. Mike Richardson of the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office previously said that the 2002 Saturn in which Papson was a front-seat passenger flipped when Neal crested a small hill at a high rate of speed and swerved to the right to avoid an oncoming northbound vehicle.

Neal lost control of the vehicle after it left the roadway and overcorrected. The car then flipped onto its top and rolled onto its side, Richardson said.

Neal and a 16-year-old passenger in the back seat were also taken to WMC, but their injuries weren’t life-threatening.

The speed Neal was driving was not released at the time of the wreck. Her next court appearance is scheduled for 9 a.m. Dec. 6 in Frederick County Circuit Court.

— Contact Melissa Boughton at mboughton@winchesterstar.com