commentary by Patrick H. Moore
It must have been a harsh and difficult road that led Kara Koriath, a 44-year old Ballwin, Missouri woman, to allegedly soak her vehicle with gasoline and light fireworks inside the vehicle while driving down the highway with her children. This is a case of unrequited love affecting a probably unstable personality leading to disaster of the first order.
News-leader.com has the story:
a different accident
Court documents accuse Koriath of waking her 16 and 13-year-old children up early Nov. 20, 2013 and telling them they needed to go to the hospital because their grandmother was having a heart attack.
While driving along Interstate 270, Koriath was seen lighting an object before the 2008 GMC Acadia became engulfed in flames. The Acadia traveled off the right side of the road, hitting the guardrail and two road signs. Koriath, a 16-year-old boy, and a 13-year-old boy were seriously injured in the accident.
This sounds pretty damning but I would be curious to know who “saw” Koriath “lighting an object?”
The combined evidence, however, poses a formidable hurdle for Koriath and her counsel to overcome. There were numerous packages of fireworks tied together with fuses and pipe cleaners throughout the SUV. Mortar shells were attached to the head rests.
The glove compartment contained lighter fluid and more fireworks and the floorboard on the driver’s side appeared to be soaked in gasoline. And the proverbial lighter was found melted in debris.
So at first glance it looks bad for Kara Koriath, assuming it was her and not one of her two injured boys, who suffered from smoke inhalation and burns, who triggered the conflagration.
The tables are tipped a bit further by the fact that based on the police investigation, Kara appears to have motive.
Needless to say, grandmother was not only not in the hospital, she was presumably far from it. With grandmother ruled out as an alibi, it becomes clear that Koriath had ulterior motives. The next clue is the route she took. It was the same route her married boyfriend uses when he takes his children to school.
And, if we can take the authorities at their word, Koriath made the fatal mistake of giving her lover an ultimatum to leave his wife. She also allegedly sent him “goodbye” texts. One of those texts reportedly said “it will haunt you every day of your life.”
The old saw “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” rears its time-worn head.
They say the devil is in the details and there are plenty of them.
Pipe cleaners similar to the ones in the Acadia were found inside Koriath’s home. There were also ‘after death instructions’ on a desk with a will and testament, a new life insurance policy, and suicide letters.
So it looks bad and worse for Koriath. There is a veritable mountain of evidence for her lawyers to explain away. And with the kids being the visible reminder of Koriath’s apparent infamy, it’s going to be hard for her to garner much sympathy despite the fact that her actions go far beyond simple revenge and suggest serious mental imbalance.
Koriath was charged with felony driving while intoxicated, either first or second degree assault (depending on who you listen to) and child endangerment.
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So the personal side of this tale of woe is dark indeed. Some will be furious at Koriath and will want her drawn and quartered; others may try to modulate their natural antipathy for her awful deeds (assuming the charges are true) with the gentle reminder that we don’t know what troubled path led to Koriath’s recent terrible decisions.
Amidst all this sorrow, there was an Interstate crisis of the first magnitude. It was just after 6:00 am – Hump Day on the highway.
Missouri Highway Patrol Sgt. Al Notham reported that Koriath’s 2008 GMC Acadia was northbound on 270 at Clayton Road when everything began to go wrong.
“We believe she left the roadway due to a distraction from fireworks being ignited inside the vehicle.”
Sgt. Al’s dry tone belies the seriousness of the situation. Although it was a single vehicle wreck, the ensuing traffic jam was massive. Traffic backed up for more than seven miles in the heat of the morning rush hour.
To pull a stunt like this in today’s world, you’ve probably got to be under the influence of prescription medicine. And Koriath allegedly was.
The hellish reality of mothers who should not be mothers but are stuck with kids with no easy way out is all too common. Koriath’s two boys are living proof.