Left inset: Anna Dalrymple (Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office). Right inset: Audra Rogers (Dignity Memorial). Background: The area of Highway 43 in Tuscaloosa County, Ala., where Anna Dalrymple killed pregnant mother Audra Rogers and sent her four children to the hospital (WVTM/YouTube).
An Alabama woman has received a 20-year prison sentence following a tragic 2021 accident that resulted in the death of a pregnant mother and left her four children injured. One of the children sustained significant injuries, including broken growth plates in both legs.
“I will never grow anymore,” lamented Roman Pruitt, the teenage son of the victim, Audra Rogers, during the sentencing of Anna Dalrymple in Tuscaloosa County on Monday, as reported by Patch.com.
The 17-year-old recounted how medical professionals had to “break” his other growth plate during surgery to treat his injuries. His brother, Reed Pruitt, also suffered severe injuries, including a broken femur, a concussion, and a ruptured spleen. “I miss the fun birthdays with my mom and my brothers,” Reed expressed in court.
Dalrymple admitted guilt to charges of reckless murder and first-degree assault on September 30. Toxicology reports following the crash revealed the presence of Xanax, Klonopin, methadone, and gabapentin in her system.
“She was high [at the time of the crash],” stated Senior Assistant District Attorney Corey Seale on Monday. “She had no reason or business driving.”
In July 2021, Dalrymple caused a fatal head-on collision that took the life of 36-year-old Rogers at the 212-mile marker on U.S. Highway 43. According to the Alabama Law Enforcement Highway Patrol, the crash report indicated that Dalrymple’s 2007 Volvo XC90 veered across the center line into oncoming traffic. Prosecutors attributed the accident to her impaired state due to a “cocktail of drugs.”
Rogers tried to maneuver her 2012 Honda Pilot to the right in an attempt to avoid the crash, but could not get her car out of the path of the Volvo in time, authorities said. She was expecting her fifth child with her boyfriend at the time of her death. Dalrymple was driving with her own infant daughter in the car, who was also injured.
“I just want to say I am so very sorry for this and can’t imagine the pain this family is going through,” Dalrymple said Monday at her sentencing, according to Patch. “I wish that I could take her place and I hate to see her children up here. I just wish this never happened and I’m so very sorry that I did this. I take full responsibility.”
Rogers was reportedly a beauty queen and powerlifter, according to her obituary. She had been crowned Ms. Alabama Tourism 2021 and was a three-time state record holder in powerlifting, but what she loved most was being a mother, according to her family.
“Those kids were her whole life,” said Katie Bramlett, Rogers’ mom, in court Monday. “After she had them, she worked nights because she didn’t want them to go to day care. So she would work all night, take care of the kids, sleep and go back to work. She was like, ‘Nobody’s taking care of my kids but me.’ She was a really cool parent.”
In addition to the charges of reckless murder, Dalrymple was also facing four counts of assault in the first degree as well as domestic violence in the first and third degrees (reckless endangerment), according to court records, before she accepted her plea deal. The domestic violence and other assault charges were dismissed as part of the agreement.
Dalrymple was sentenced to 20 years in prison with a five-year split for the reckless murder charge, along with 10 years on the first-degree assault conviction and a two-year split sentence, Patch reports. Her split sentences will run consecutively, while her original sentences will run concurrently.
