A Callahan, Florida man has pleaded guilty to DUI manslaughter and aggravated manslaughter of a child in the December 2023 crash that killed his 9-month-old son on Interstate 295 near Merrill Road in Jacksonville. Lenford Killings entered the plea in Duval County Court on Thursday, nearly three years after the wreck and more than a year after his arrest, and now awaits sentencing.
The crash happened on December 10, 2023, when Killings was driving more than 120 miles per hour on I-295 just south of Merrill Road, according to an arrest warrant reported by First Coast News. His car left the roadway, struck a guardrail, overturned, collided with multiple palm trees and came to rest on its roof. The vehicle carried a woman and three children, including the infant, who was unrestrained and was ejected in the crash, according to investigators. The baby, identified as Kylen Killings, died as a result, according to Florida Highway Patrol records cited by News4JAX, which also reported that the adult woman and two older children in the car were hospitalized with injuries.
A Child's Account From the Backseat
One of the surviving children told police at the scene that “Daddy was driving and dancing and the car kept crashing,” an investigator documented in the arrest warrant, the station's report notes. The warrant also described Killings as having bloodshot, watery eyes and smelling of alcohol when officers encountered him.
Medical records cited by the reporting officer put Killings' blood alcohol concentration at 0.244% when he arrived at the hospital, roughly three times Florida's legal driving limit, per the same account. A Florida Department of Law Enforcement lab report completed in January 2024 separately showed his BAC at 0.197%, a discrepancy between the hospital and lab figures laid out in the warrant. Killings also tested positive for THC.
Conflicting Claims to Investigators
Killings admitted to investigators that he and the adult female passenger had been drinking alcohol while driving to look at Christmas lights, but he later told interviewers the woman “must have drugged him,” according to the arrest warrant detailed by First Coast News. He was arrested in September 2025, nearly two years after the crash, and initially pleaded not guilty. At the time of his arrest, Killings faced additional charges including vehicular homicide, reckless driving causing damage, and DUI causing damage, before prosecutors finalized the plea agreement to DUI manslaughter and aggravated manslaughter of a child.
Mandatory Minimums Loom at Sentencing
Under Florida Statute § 782.07(3), aggravated manslaughter of a child is a Level 10 offense under the state's Criminal Punishment Code, carrying a mandatory minimum of 13 years in prison and a maximum of life imprisonment, according to Online Sunshine, the state's official statutes portal. DUI manslaughter, under Florida Statute § 316.193(3)(c)3.a, is a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison with a mandatory minimum of four years and permanent revocation of the driver's license. Killings' sentencing is scheduled to be set in November, when a Duval County judge will determine how those mandatory terms apply.
Part of a Broader Pattern in Jacksonville
The case echoes another recent Jacksonville tragedy involving a young child. In a separate case reported by News4JAX in September, 24-year-old Logan Fletcher Park faced two counts of DUI manslaughter after a May 2025 crash on Baymeadows Road that killed an elementary school math teacher and his 1-year-old son.
Duval County had 23,013 total traffic crashes in 2024, according to data compiled by Atesa Risk Advisors from state figures, a toll that averages roughly 63 crashes every day across the county.
