A Shelby County grand jury has indicted Robert Carmack, the driver accused of causing a fiery Interstate 40 crash that killed a Memphis mother and her two sons last year. Carmack, 26, now faces three counts of reckless vehicular homicide, one count of reckless aggravated assault and two counts of reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon in connection with the May 31, 2025 wreck near I-40 and Hollywood Avenue that killed Tonya Cannady and her sons Barry and Scott.
The crash happened around 3:15 p.m. that day, according to WMC Action News 5, which reported the indictment. Memphis police said Carmack was speeding westbound on I-40 in a Ford truck and passed a flashing TDOT construction sign roughly 25 yards before slamming into slowing traffic ahead of him.
A Chain Reaction That Engulfed a Family's Car
Carmack rear-ended the car carrying Cannady and her sons, triggering a multi-vehicle pileup that pushed the family's vehicle into another car and caused a collision with a tractor-trailer. Carmack’s truck then dragged the family’s Honda CR-V for at least 50 yards, according to the same report, and the vehicle caught fire in the process. Tonya Cannady, Barry Cannady and Scott Cannady all died at the scene.
An earlier account from Action News 5 described the same chain-reaction crash in greater detail, reporting that Cannady’s vehicle struck the rear of a Lexus LS460, which then rear-ended a Hyundai Elantra before that car was rammed into a Kenworth T680 tractor-trailer. The driver of another vehicle involved, the Lexus, was transported to St. Francis Hospital-Bartlett and was listed in non-critical condition.
Conflicting Details From Last Year's Charges
When Carmack was first charged in 2025, news outlets gave differing accounts of both his age and the specific counts against him. Fox13 reported at the time that he was 25 and had been charged with offenses including vehicular homicide-reckless, aggravated assault and reckless driving, according to fox13memphis.com. Action News 5, by contrast, reported his age as 26.
WREG offered yet another version of the charging details, reporting that Carmack had been booked in the Shelby County Jail on counts that included four counts of aggravated assault, five counts of reckless endangerment, aggravated assault, reckless driving and failure to exercise due care. It is not clear from available reporting how those initial charges relate to the counts named in this week's indictment.
Memphis Interstates Have Seen Other Deadly Pileups
The I-40 crash caused traffic backups that lasted for a few hours, according to a separate Action News 5 report from the day of the wreck. Multi-vehicle pileups have proven to be a recurring hazard on Memphis freeways. A separate five-car collision near the Hollywood exit shut down I-240 for hours and left three people dead, backing up traffic for four hours, according to the Daily Memphian. In another incident, a multi-car crash on I-40 left four people hospitalized with injuries after officers found five vehicles involved, according to fox13memphis.com, though the cause was not known at the time of that report.
Details on Carmack’s attorney, plea, bond status and upcoming court dates were not available.
