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GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Authorities have taken Christina Shantell Gordan, 29, into custody, charging her with two counts of vehicular manslaughter. This follows an inquiry revealing that her two young children were not secured in child safety seats during a fatal accident in July 2025.
The investigation by the Gainesville Police Department disclosed that the incident occurred around 6:07 a.m. on July 10. Gordan was driving west on SW Williston Road when another vehicle, turning left onto I-75, failed to yield, resulting in a collision. Upon arrival at the scene, witnesses discovered a six-month-old infant on the driver’s side floorboard beneath Gordan’s legs. Gordan informed them of a second child, a 22-month-old, who was located on the front passenger floorboard. Both children were rushed to UF Health Shands with trauma alerts but tragically did not survive.
Investigators noted the absence of child safety seats in Gordan’s vehicle’s passenger area, although an infant car seat, lacking its base, was found in the trunk. Additionally, both the driver and front passenger seatbelts were locked in a retracted position, suggesting that none of the vehicle’s occupants were buckled at the time of the crash.
At the scene, Gordan reportedly admitted to an officer that she was not wearing a seatbelt during the accident. She also confessed to placing both children in the front passenger seat without securing them with a seatbelt.
Post Miranda, Gordan reportedly said she had just passed McDonald’s on Williston Road and was headed “toward Archer” when she was hit, and she said that both children were in the front passenger seat with the seatbelt on, but GPD’s investigation found that this was incorrect, based on the evidence in the vehicle and Gordan’s statements, which were captured on an officer’s body-worn camera.
The investigation found that the infant was probably sitting on Gordan’s lap at the time of the crash, and the toddler was probably in the passenger seat, unrestrained.
According to a witness who was interviewed later, Gordan owned car seats for the children and normally transported the children in the vehicle she drove on the day of the accident.
The investigation found that Gordan caused the deaths of the children by culpable negligence by not securing them in child safety seats. The investigation concludes, “[Gordan’s] failure and omission to secure the [victims] in car seats in the rear of the vehicle, as dictated by state law, led to catastrophic injuries, resulting in death from a car crash.”
Gordan has been charged with two counts of vehicular manslaughter. She has no criminal convictions, and Judge Denise Ferrero set bail at $40,000 in the arrest warrant she signed on February 13.
Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.