Kelli Anderson, woman accused in pileup crash that killed mom of 4, pleads not guilty

INDIANAPOLIS — The woman accused of causing a fatal multi-vehicle accident earlier this month pleaded not guilty in court Tuesday to all charges against her.

Kelli Anderson, 55, was being held on a $100,000 bond and was appointed a public defender.

On June 23, Anderson was released from Marion County Jail after posting bond. Officials have said she will be prohibited from driving if released.

The terms of her release mandate that Anderson be on GPS monitoring, cannot have any firearms and can only go to limited locations. She is also prohibited from driving. A review will determine whether her license will be revoked.

The state filed a motion to suspend her driver's license, which the judge overseeing the case has taken under advisement.

"The biggest thing is that we are alleging that she was involved in two fatal crashes where two people lost their life and under those circumstances especially when you look at the proximity of those accidents taking place close in time to one another that this particular individual we are going to alleged is not fit to be on our roadways," Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said.

Anderson is charged with reckless homicide and six counts of criminal recklessness in connection with the deadly crash on June 9, according to the Marion County Prosecutor's Office. Anderson was taken into custody and booked into the Marion County Jail Friday, according to IMPD and online jail records.

Kiana Burns, the 28-year-old driver of the second vehicle. was rushed to the hospital in critical condition where she died two days later.

Anderson told detectives that she was in the right-hand lane to turn and tried to avoid hitting another vehicle that had cut in front of her but misjudged – and veered off, according to court documents.

Actual data from Anderson’s vehicle revealed she was traveling at nearly 69 mph when she struck the first vehicle and had not touched the brakes, according to court documents. The speed limit on Keystone Avenue where the crash occurred is 35 mph.

"If there was a loophole that allowed this to continue, we will hope to close that loophole in the future for all families to prevent these tragedies from happening," said Dustin Fregiato, an attorney representing Kiana Burns’ family.

During her questioning, Anderson told detectives she was on daily medications for “severe, life-threatening allergies and epilepsy.” When investigators questioned her about suffering from allergy symptoms prior to the crash she told them she couldn’t remember stating; “Honestly, I blacked out, ‘cause I don’t remember what happened.”

During the same questioning, detectives said Anderson appeared to have “glassy eyes” and she had trouble completing field sobriety tests.

An investigation found Anderson had been involved in a different fatal crash exactly three weeks earlier, according to the probable cause.

Court documents showed that as a result of that crash on May 19, Anderson was treated at the hospital for “internal injuries”. During her treatment for that crash, she told investigators that she takes prescription medication for seizures and “may have blacked out” because she did not remember the crash.

The exact details of the May 19 crash were not revealed in the court documents and Anderson is not currently facing any charges for that incident.

The blood draws from both crashes on June 9 and May 19 were sent to the Indiana State Department of Toxicology for analysis and the results remain pending.

Anderson is scheduled to appear before a jury Sept. 1 in Marion Superior Court.