Left inset: Anna Dalrymple (Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office). Right inset: Audra Rogers (Dignity Memorial). Background: The area of Highway 43 in Tuscaloosa County, Ala., where Anna Dalrymple killed pregnant mother Audra Rogers and sent her four children to the hospital (WVTM/YouTube).
An Alabama woman has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for a 2021 crash that claimed the life of a pregnant mother and sent her four children to the hospital, including one who was left with broken growth plates in both of his legs as a result of his injuries.
"I will never grow anymore," said Roman Pruitt, the teenage son of victim Audra Rogers, at Anna Dalrymple's sentencing on Monday in Tuscaloosa County, according to Patch.com.
During his recovery, the 17-year-old said doctors had to "break" his other growth plate as part of a surgery for his various injuries. Roman's brother, Reed Pruitt, broke his femur, suffered a concussion and ruptured spleen as a result of the crash. "I miss the fun birthdays with my mom and my brothers," Reed reportedly said in court.
Dalrymple pleaded guilty to reckless murder and first-degree assault on Sept. 30. A toxicology screen following the crash showed Xanax, Klonopin, methadone and gabapentin in her system.
"She was high [at the time of the crash]," Senior Assistant District Attorney Corey Seale said Monday. "She had no reason or business driving."
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Dalrymple killed Rogers, 36, in a head-on collision that occurred in July 2021 around the 212-mile marker of U.S. Highway 43, according to documents filed by investigators with the Alabama Law Enforcement Highway Patrol. A crash report said the 2007 Volvo XC90 being driven by Dalrymple started to cross over the center line and into the lane of oncoming traffic. Prosecutors blamed her "cocktail of drugs" for the crash.
Rogers tried to maneuver her 2012 Honda Pilot to the right in an attempt to avoid the crash, but could not get her car out of the path of the Volvo in time, authorities said. She was expecting her fifth child with her boyfriend at the time of her death. Dalrymple was driving with her own infant daughter in the car, who was also injured.
"I just want to say I am so very sorry for this and can't imagine the pain this family is going through," Dalrymple said Monday at her sentencing, according to Patch. "I wish that I could take her place and I hate to see her children up here. I just wish this never happened and I'm so very sorry that I did this. I take full responsibility."
Rogers was reportedly a beauty queen and powerlifter, according to her obituary. She had been crowned Ms. Alabama Tourism 2021 and was a three-time state record holder in powerlifting, but what she loved most was being a mother, according to her family.
"Those kids were her whole life," said Katie Bramlett, Rogers' mom, in court Monday. "After she had them, she worked nights because she didn't want them to go to day care. So she would work all night, take care of the kids, sleep and go back to work. She was like, 'Nobody's taking care of my kids but me.' She was a really cool parent."
In addition to the charges of reckless murder, Dalrymple was also facing four counts of assault in the first degree as well as domestic violence in the first and third degrees (reckless endangerment), according to court records, before she accepted her plea deal. The domestic violence and other assault charges were dismissed as part of the agreement.
Dalrymple was sentenced to 20 years in prison with a five-year split for the reckless murder charge, along with 10 years on the first-degree assault conviction and a two-year split sentence, Patch reports. Her split sentences will run consecutively, while her original sentences will run concurrently.