Man involved in deadly Chesapeake crash sentenced to 31 years in prison
CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — A 2021 high-speed chase that ended with two people dead has resulted in more than three decades of prison time for a man who refused to pull over.
Ishmel Seymore, 25, pleaded guilty earlier this year to two counts of felony murder and felony eluding police and will spend 31 years in prison.
In the July 15, 2021 incident, officials said an officer tried to pull Seymore over for speeding, and instead, he sped off, exiting Interstate 64 at Greenbrier Parkway after police estimated his speed at more than 90 mph.
Seymore then crashed into another car at the intersection of Crossways Boulevard and Jarman Road. Sixty-five-year-old David Jones was driving that other car, and his girlfriend, 54-year-old Jennifer O’Connell, was in the passenger seat. Both were killed that evening.
They had been dating for a couple of years and worked together in the city real estate assessor’s office.
Man facing murder charges after deadly high speed chase with police remains behind bars
“You were never having a bad day when David was around,” Jones’ nephew Grant Gardner said following the sentencing. “We never saw David off. He was always on his A-game.”
Family and friends remember the couple as giving, caring and selfless.
Jones was a fellow board member with Pete Morford for the Feldman Chamber Music Society.
“The loss of David and Jennifer is absolutely immeasurable,” Morford said. “I think about them every day, and I miss them tremendously.”
Ever since they were killed, their boss, Chesapeake Real Estate Assessor Greg Daniels, doesn’t do some of the things he used to. He won’t use the intersection of Crossways and Jarman.
“I try to avoid the intersection,” he said. “I know I have to go through it a few times for work purposes, but just seeing the bushes and the shrubbery that’s still damaged, it brings back a lot of really bad memories.”
And he hasn’t been to an ODU football game, where he, Jones and O’Connell would enjoy tailgates, although Daniels said that could change.
“The family was saying we need to go back and go to a football game, kind of in their honor.”
Seymore’s mother told the court Ishmel has had years of mental illness and was diagnosed with schizophrenia after commitment at Central State Hospital.
Seymore himself told the victims’ families he was “most sincerely apologetic for his unjust wrongdoing.”
Seymour said he takes full responsibility for what he has done.
“What Mr. Seymour‘s mom, and what he said, did hit home. We appreciated those words,” Gardner said.
Judge Andrew Kubovcik said to Seymore, “if you would only have pulled over, we would be dealing with a misdemeanor instead of [murder charges].”
Seymore pleaded guilty on Jan. 17 to two counts of murder, felony eluding and felony hit-and-run.
Kubovcik gave Seymore 15 years active time for the death of Jones, 15 years for the death of O’Connell, and an additional year for the felony charge of eluding police.
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