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A mother from Michigan is once again grieving after learning that the teenager responsible for her son’s death in a car accident in 2023 was not sentenced to prison last week.
Responding to a single-car crash on November 17, 2023, Grosse Pointe police found the driver, Kiernan Tague, secured in the driver’s seat. The victim, Flynn MacKrell, 18, was found unresponsive in the passenger seat, also wearing a seatbelt.
Prosecutors accused Tague of driving about 100 mph in a 25-mph zone around 9 p.m. when he crashed the vehicle into a telephone pole.
The charges against Tague initially included second-degree murder. However, in February 2025, he pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter and was treated as an adult. Last week, due to his age of 16 at the time of the accident, he received a “blended sentence.”
“My son, my Flynn, was my life, my heart. No words can capture the silence, the rage, and the sorrow that fill every corner of my world. This statement cannot express the hell I live every day since Flynn’s death, but Flynn’s voice was stolen, now mine must speak for him.”
She also read a victim impact statement in court last week during the sentencing hearing. In her statement, Vanker remembered her son, who had just started studying at the University of Dayton before the crash, as “a cherished child of God” and “a true gift.”
She also described Tague’s “escalating violent behavior” and “willful disregard for his mother’s authority, the law, and basic human life.” Vanker added that Tague has never acknowledged “the gravity of the crime” and has never expressed “remorse” for Flynn’s death.
Anne Vanker, of Grosse Pointe Farms, expressed outrage after her son’s killer avoided prison time. (Ryan Garza / USA TODAY NETWORK)
“Kiernan Tague has been involved in 20 police incidents since 2018. Most of these police interactions were triggered by Kiernan’s mother calling 911 because of his uncontrollable outbursts,” she wrote.Â
Tague’s driving history in the months before the crash included hitting speeds of 102 mph, 127 mph, 143 mph, 150 mph and 155 mph, the Detroit Free Press reported, citing police reports, cellphone exchanges and Life360 records.
Vanker also noted that Tague’s family used the Life 360 app to keep tabs on their son’s location, as many parents do, and a search warrant for data from the app showed Tague’s reckless driving tendencies. Police reports, Life360 records and other documents showedÂ
“From November 1 to November 17, Kiernan made 94 trips in his car,” Vanker wrote. “Of those 94 trips, 10% were over 120 [mph], 18% were over 110 [mph], 26% were over 100 [mph], and 45% were over 90 [mph]. The top speed was recorded on November 1, 2023, when Kiernan Tague traveled at or above 153.7 mph for 20.5 miles.”
Tague also spoke at his sentencing and at times became choked up when talking about Flynn, whom he described as his best friend, according to FOX 2.
“My heart is profoundly heavy with grief, regret and remorse,” Tague said on June 13, as FOX 2 reported. “What pains me most is that I know that any pain that I’ve experienced is nothing compared to what Flynn’s loved ones, especially his parents, sister, brother, and family have experienced.”
