Inset: Kayla Tisdale (Reuben Long Detention Center). Background: The intersection where Tisdale killed a motorcyclist in a DUI crash in Little River, S.C. (Google Maps).
A South Carolina woman will spend more than a decade behind bars for her role in a crash that took the life of a motorcyclist last spring.
On Tuesday, Kayla Tisdale, 38, pleaded guilty to one count of felony DUI resulting in death over the April 2025 incident that took the life of 62-year-old Steven Marshall, the 15th Circuit Solicitor's Office announced in a press release.
Circuit Court Judge Michael Nettles immediately sentenced the defendant to 14 years in state prison.
Tisdale's legal problems are far from resolved.
Earlier this year, she pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of misprision of a felony for keeping $750,000 in cash and gold bullion as part of a money-laundering scheme linked to drug trafficking.
Tisdale is currently awaiting sentencing on her federal charge, according to court records reviewed by Law&Crime.
The underlying incident for which she was punished by the Palmetto State occurred on the afternoon of April 4, 2025, along Sea Mountain Highway in Little River, a small census-designated place near North Myrtle Beach, prosecutors said.
On the day in question, the defendant failed to yield to a motorcyclist, who crashed. She then fled the scene to pick her daughter up from elementary school, according to law enforcement. State troopers arrested Tisdale as she pulled up to a house that same day.
During the incident, Tisdale was driving a 2011 Cadillac SUV; Marshall was driving a 2003 Honda scooter.
Investigators then learned her blood alcohol content was 0.19, nearly three times the legal limit of 0.08, authorities said.
Speaking with troopers, Tisdale said she had been drinking since 8:30 a.m. that day — due to the stress of the federal investigation, according to the solicitor's office. The defendant also said she did not even remember buying alcohol, her last drink of the day, from a Circle K gas station. But surveillance footage captured that purchase.
The victim had retired to the Myrtle Beach area after 20 years as a member of law enforcement in Pennsylvania, according to the solicitor's office. Marshall died "almost instantly" in the crash, according to lead prosecutor Brandon Lanier.
Witnesses identified Tisdale as the driver responsible for the crash and Marshall's death by photographing her license plate before she fled, authorities said.
"This case serves as a stark reminder of the perils that stem from drinking and driving," Lanier said in a statement. "Our community lost a career public servant, who spent the better part of 20 years attempting to save lives, simply because Ms. Tisdale chose to become grossly impaired before 9:00 a.m. that day."
The prosecutor went on to stress that there were "no winners" with the overall outcome of the tragic case.
"Mr. Marshall's family will never be made whole, and Ms. Tisdale's young daughter will grow up without her mother at a pivotal point in her life," Lanier continued. "We are grateful to the witnesses who assisted the Highway Patrol in locating Ms. Tisdale, and we hope that this lengthy prison sentence will deter those who think about drinking and driving from ever doing so in the future."