Ballwin (KTVI) — A Missouri woman is accused of assault in an apparent murder suicide attempt that involved wiring her car with fireworks, dousing it with gasoline, then setting off fireworks inside. She allegedly did this while driving down Interstate 270 with her two sons in the car.
The crash happened on 270 in Des Peres back in November. Kara Koriath, 44, and her sons were all seriously injured in the early morning wreck that backed traffic up for miles. But court documents say this was no accident.
The probable cause statement says Koriath had been in a relationship with a married man which was going sour. The night before, she had texted him an ultimatum, demanding he leave his wife for her. Later, a series of what are described as “good bye” texts, including one that said, “it will haunt you every day of your life.”
The statement says Koriath woke up her sons, 13 and 16, and told them their grandmother had had a heart attack. She told them they were going to the hospital to see her. This, according to investigators, was a lie.
The routing along 270, where Koriath allegedly instigated the fiery crash, was the same route the married boyfriend drove daily, taking his own children to school. Prosecutors allege the entire thing was put on for him to see.
Koriath is charged with two counts of first degree assault in the case, both felonies, but prosecutor Bob McCullough says it had all the makings of an attempted murder.
“You wire the car up in that fashion and get the kids up in the middle of the night and put them in the car and take off, and then the explosions start in the car. It was pretty clear what was going on pretty immediately that that was an attempt to do some serious injury, serious harm, if not fatal to the two boys,” he said.
The boys are in the care of another relative.
The last known address for Koriath is now vacant, and the employer she listed on her LinkedIn page, Wells Fargo Advisers, says she no longer works there.
Once she’s in custody she will be held on $200,000 bond.
