Prosecutors said Lorraine O’Neill did not realize her 7-year-old grandson was missing until miles after he fell from her car.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — An approximately 11-mile stretch of highway became a central part of the prosecution of a Maryland grandmother convicted of neglect after her 7-year-old grandson fell from her moving car and was fatally struck on Interstate 97.
Lorraine Marie O’Neill, 68, of Hagerstown, was found guilty Aug. 12 of neglect of a minor after a four-day trial in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court. Prosecutors said she drove for about 11 miles after the child fell through a rear passenger window before she realized he was no longer in his car seat. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 2.
The events began on the evening of Nov. 24, 2024. Authorities said O’Neill was traveling north on I-97 in Millersville in a 2011 Mazda 3 with her grandson seated in a car seat on the rear passenger side. Near the interstate’s interchange with Benfield Boulevard, the child fell from the rear passenger window onto the roadway.
The boy was then struck by an approaching vehicle. Maryland State Police troopers responded at about 7 p.m. after receiving a report of a pedestrian lying on I-97 near Benfield Boulevard. Anne Arundel County Fire and EMS personnel pronounced the child dead at the scene.
O’Neill was not at that location when she discovered the child was missing, according to prosecutors. She told investigators that she realized his car seat was empty while she was in the area of Interstate 695 and Route 2 and pulled over at a nearby gas station. Authorities calculated the distance from where the boy fell to where O’Neill stopped at approximately 11 miles.
Investigators also focused on the rear window. The State’s Attorney’s Office said O’Neill told police she had allowed her grandson to play with the car’s rear power window and that the window’s child lock was not engaged that evening. Prosecutors used the circumstances surrounding the child’s supervision as the basis for the neglect charge.
The jury returned its guilty verdict after four days of testimony. Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess said afterward that O’Neill’s account at trial was markedly different from statements she originally gave investigators. Public statements from prosecutors did not detail every disputed point in her testimony, and a complete trial transcript was not among the records reviewed for this report.
Leitess described the case as one about accountability for a child’s death and said adults must remain vigilant when children are in their care. She also acknowledged that the loss was traumatic for O’Neill while pointing to its effect on motorists, first responders and two men who removed the boy from the roadway.
The conviction is for neglect of a minor, a misdemeanor that carries a maximum sentence of five years of incarceration and a fine of up to $5,000. The jury’s verdict did not determine the sentence, which will be decided by Circuit Court Judge Ginina Jackson-Stevenson.
O’Neill is due back in court Oct. 2 for sentencing. The public records and reports reviewed for this article did not establish what sentence prosecutors will seek or what punishment the defense will ask the judge to impose.
Author note: Last updated August 17, 2026.