Staff Report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Christina Shantell Gordan, a 29-year-old woman, faces two counts of vehicular manslaughter after a police investigation revealed her two young children were not secured in child safety seats during a fatal crash in July 2025.

The investigation by the Gainesville Police Department determined that the tragic incident occurred around 6:07 a.m. on July 10. Gordan was traveling westbound on SW Williston Road when another vehicle, attempting to turn left onto I-75, failed to yield, resulting in a collision. When bystanders arrived at the scene, they found a six-month-old infant on the driver’s side floorboard, between Gordan’s legs. Gordan informed them about a second child, a 22-month-old, who was discovered on the front passenger floorboard. Despite being rushed to UF Health Shands, both children succumbed to their injuries.

Investigators noted the absence of child seats in the passenger area of Gordan’s car. They did, however, discover an infant car seat without its base in the trunk. The locked position of the front driver and passenger seatbelts suggested that none of the vehicle’s occupants were restrained at the time of the accident.

At the scene, Gordan admitted to an officer that she wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. She also stated she had placed both children in the front passenger seat without securing them with a seatbelt.

After being read her Miranda rights, Gordan claimed she had just passed a McDonald’s on Williston Road, heading “toward Archer” when the crash occurred. She initially claimed both children were buckled in the front passenger seat, but the investigation, supported by evidence from the vehicle and footage from an officer’s body camera, contradicted her statement.

The investigation found that the infant was probably sitting on Gordan’s lap at the time of the crash, and the toddler was probably in the passenger seat, unrestrained.

According to a witness who was interviewed later, Gordan owned car seats for the children and normally transported the children in the vehicle she drove on the day of the accident.

The investigation found that Gordan caused the deaths of the children by culpable negligence by not securing them in child safety seats. The investigation concludes, “[Gordan’s] failure and omission to secure the [victims] in car seats in the rear of the vehicle, as dictated by state law, led to catastrophic injuries, resulting in death from a car crash.”

Gordan has been charged with two counts of vehicular manslaughter. She has no criminal convictions, and Judge Denise Ferrero set bail at $40,000 in the arrest warrant she signed on February 13.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.