MARTIN COUNTY — After a morning of emotional accounts, a 25-year-old woman who fatally struck a bicyclist before continuing to her home with his bicycle still on her BMW was sentenced June 26 to just over 29 years in prison.
Circuit Judge Elizabeth Metzger sentenced Elise Elder, who pleaded guilty to DUI manslaughter and leaving the scene of a crash involving death in connection with the June 28, 2024, incident that killed 68-year-old Martin Drummond.
Drummond was struck about 6:42 a.m. while cycling on the Evans Crary Bridge linking Stuart and Sewall’s Point.
Metzger told Elder her choices caused the death of a loving husband, devoted father, grandfather and friend, noting Drummond was out riding his bicycle like many others.
“No one would expect someone like you being drunk, driving over 80 miles an hour, hitting a human being, killing him, and leaving him in the roadway, going home and telling people, it wasn’t my fault,” Metzger said.
Metzger said when you make mistakes, there are ripple effects, but in this case there was “in essence, a tsunami.”
“You have devastated, devastated, not only people who care about you, but the victim’s family,” Metzger said. “When we have tsunamis, there’s damage that can’t be repaired. It’s wiped out.”
Metzger’s decision was announced in a packed courtroom, nearly standing room only, with State Attorney Tom Bakkedhal in attendance.
Drummond’s widow, Lori Drummond, sat in the front row beside a large photo of her smiling, late husband, a pastor and Realtor as well as a journalist.
According to records, after getting to the scene, a Florida Highway Patrol trooper was told by Martin County sheriff’s officials that the vehicle suspected in the crash was at a home in the 100 block of South Sewall’s Point Road. The bicycle was found at 95 South Sewall’s Point Road, records show.
Lori Drummond told the court she lost her first husband to a sudden illness before meeting Martin in 2004. They had a “storybook romance” and they married in 2006, and he doted on her.
“Even as the years went by, he never let up,” Lori Drummond said. “It was clear that he was always making sure that my emotional bank account was very full.”
She said she loved praying with him in the morning before she went to work, and they talked of growing old together.
She recalled the morning after the crash she walked the Evans Crary Bridge and found his bicycle seat and a bloody sock.
“Because of the location of our home, I almost daily have to drive across the bridge over the very spot that Martin was killed,” she said.
Elder, in tearful, difficult testimony, said she wanted to be held accountable for her actions.
“Really there are no words in the English language that can describe to you the depths of my sorrow, my shame,” Elder said. “And my guilt.”
Elder said she pleaded guilty instead of no contest because she wants to take accountability.
“I took an amazing person from this world,” she said.
Elder said before the crash she was selfish and thoughtless, but now thinks ahead and how others would be affected.
Under questioning from Assistant State Attorney Kristen Chase, Elder acknowledged she chose to drink and drive for hours from Daytona Beach to Martin County.
“Each mile you have the opportunity to stop to pull over, right?” Chase said.
“Yes,” Elder said.
“And you chose not to do so, right?” Chase said.
“Yes,” Elder said.
Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. William Fenton said investigators used an infotainment system in tracking Elder’s location and speed. Her vehicle reached about 84 mph at the top of the bridge, one of three points on the bridge from which they had data.
Fenton said a blood test about 8:25 a.m. the day of the crash showed a blood alcohol content of 0.329 – more than four times the legal limit of 0.08.
Body cam footage after the crash shown in court depicted Elder deflecting blame.
“I was driving and a person hit me,” she said. “I did not hit anybody … The person hit me on the bike.”
Among Martin Drummond’s family members who spoke was one of his daughters, Jessica Cornett, who told of the incredible impact of her father’s death.
Cornett said she turned to her father for guidance, strength and wisdom. They suffer daily for “a choice that never should have been made.”
“In many ways, we are serving a life sentence without parole, carrying the trauma and this absence for the rest of our lives,” Cornett said. “For months after my father’s death, I woke up at 4 o’clock in the morning and screamed into pillows, sobbing until I had nothing left before forcing myself to pull it together for my family.”
Cornett said her father won’t get to see his 11 grandchildren grow, and that her own children sleep in his clothes hoping he will come to them in their dreams.
“This loss came during an already incredibly difficult season,” she said. “I’m navigating a prolonged cancer battle while raising young children and working to support my family.”
Elder’s sister, Jocelyn Elder, said Elise is one of her greatest role models. Jocelyn Elder spoke of her sister’s character and how the impact of the crash changed her.
“There were times I was worried that she would collapse entirely,” Jocelyn Elder said.
She said Elise Elder has coped by praying.
“She prayed for the Drummond family. She prayed for renewal,” Jocelyn Elder said. “She prayed for healing over their family and for our family.”
Martin Drummond’s daughter Melissa Cook said she doesn’t sleep, and in the months since he passed she stopped doing some things, such as getting dressed or eating.
“The light just went out and I’m starting to find my way back,” Cook said.
She said there’s also been a significant financial hardship.
“Like my sister, I’m self-employed and had a business,” Cook said. “There is no sick leave, no safety net, no checks that come when your world falls apart. And as a mom, it’s equally hard to think you’ve got to get yourself together so you can provide for your kids.”
She said she invests in her mental health and said the loss “broke something in me that I still don’t feel like professional help can even begin to address.”
Cook said two nights earlier her daughter leaned over to her in a nightmare and said, “Don’t die, don’t die. I need you.”
(This story was updated with photos and videos)
Will Greenlee is a breaking news reporter for TCPalm. Follow Will on X @OffTheBeatTweet or reach him by phone at 772-267-7926. E-mail him at will.greenlee@tcpalm.com.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Florida woman sentenced; 2024 DUI crash killed pastor, cyclist, 68
Reporting by Will Greenlee, Treasure Coast Newspapers / Treasure Coast Newspapers
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By Will Greenlee, Treasure Coast Newspapers | USA TODAY Network
