KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The man arrested Tuesday in connection to a deadly crash that killed a Liberty woman, who was stranded on the side of a rural Clay County road with a flat tire, has been charged with first-degree murder.
Zackary Young, 28, of Independence, also was charged with armed criminal action in the death of Savanna Churchill, 20.
The Clay County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Young on Wednesday, according to court records.
Liberty police said Young admitted to taking a “concoction of prescription pills and everything” before driving and repeatedly said he hit Churchill and her vehicle “on purpose” around 2:30 p.m. in the area of South La Frenz and Ruth Ewing roads.
A Liberty police officer dispatched to the scene passed Young walking on the side of the road and asked if he’d seen the crash.
Young admitted to being involved in the wreck and was taken back to the scene.
A white Dodge Ram with plates registered to Young but belonging to a different vehicle was found at the crash site with a damaged front bumper, hood and windshield. The damaged areas were covered in blood.
Young said he saw Churchill, who he did not know before the wreck, “in the bushes” but did not touch her before fleeing the scene on foot.
A friend Churchill called to help her with the flat tire found her body in a cornfield and saw Young walking away shortly after the crash.
Young admitted to seeing the broken-down vehicle and Churchill standing next to it before veering into it as he approached.
When asked why he would intentionally crash into the woman and her car, Young told police, “Because I’ve been running my whole life. I guess I thought I was running from the government, but I was running from myself.”
He later told police, “It’s all my fault. ... I did it all and now I have to suffer the consequences.”
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