MUNCIE, Ind. — A woman was sentenced in an over nine-year-long case of a crash that resulted in the death of her 4-year-old granddaughter.
Donna Randolph was sentenced to three years; two executed and one year probation in Delaware County. She has served the bulk of the sentence though no date has been set for her release.
Randolph pleaded guilty in February for the 2014 case where her granddaughter died in the I-69 crash in Delaware County.

Court documents show Randolph entered a guilty plea on a felony charge of causing death when operating a motor vehicle with a Schedule I or Schedule II controlled substance. The judge dismissed a reckless homicide charge after accepting the deal.
Police say Randolph was driving on I-69 near Daleville in June 2014 when she stopped or slowed down in the northbound lane. A Dodge Ram slammed into the back of her Chrysler 300 and investigators said the other driver couldn’t avoid the collision.
The impact sent Randolph’s car into a ditch. Her 4-year-old granddaughter, Tavionna Ford, died as a result of the crash. Police said the little girl had been wearing a seat belt but was not “in any sort of child restraint or booster seat,” as required by state law.
Several others were also injured in the crash. Randolph’s blood alcohol content was .04 according to court documents and she had marijuana in her system. In court earlier this year she also admitted to smoking before the crash, according to the Star Press.
Police investigated the crash for nearly a year before charges were filed in May 2015. Randolph had been previously scheduled to change her plea in 2017, although the hearing ended up being pushed back multiple times before the plea agreement was withdrawn. Her trial date shifted multiple times due to delays.
Randolph has been convicted twice of operating a vehicle while intoxicated in Marion County; the second conviction led to a prison sentence. She was sentenced for this 2014 crash in a hearing Monday afternoon.