Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Man Wakes From Coma and Says Girlfriend Tried to Kill Him: Cops

Episode Date: October 30, 2025

Daniel Waterman, 22, died earlier this month after suffering injuries in a car crash in Flagler County, Florida last February. Florida Highway Patrol trooper say Waterman's girlfriend, Leigha Mumby, 24, became angry with Daniel after seeing that another woman had texted him and drove her SUV into a tree. Troopers said Daniel awoke from a coma and told them that Leigha intentionally caused the crash. Now Leigha Mumby faces charges for Daniel's death. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy goes over the case with Daniel's family in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.GoFundMe - https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-daniel-heal-after-devastating-car-accidentPLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Stay Informed, Stay Safe – Check Public Records with TruthFinder now at  https://www.truthfinder.com/lccrimefixHost:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guests:Tiffany WatermanJohn HagerProducer:Jordan ChaconCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. A man was in a horrific car crash this past Super Bowl Sunday, and he had to be pulled from the passenger seat after the SVie, his girlfriend was driving, veered off I-95 in Florida, and slammed into a tree. His body was so wrecked that he fell into a coma. And when he finally woke up, he told his family that his girlfriend, who had just revealed she was pregnant, had intentionally crashed that car.

Now months after that fateful night, his family had to make the heartbreaking announcement that he had passed away. What does that mean for a criminal case against the driver and when, may there be a resolution finally? Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. On October 9th, Tiffany Waterman posted this heart. heartbreaking message on her Facebook page alongside a photo of a smiling, dark-haired young man.

He just wanted to come home to his family who loved him endlessly. You can now, rest easy, Daniel. Your fight is over, but we will not stop fighting for you. Tiffany's nephew, 22-year-old Daniel Waterman, spent months trying to recover from a horrific car crash, which left him with injuries so severe. Doctors didn't expect that he would survive. Daniel was originally from New York, and he was the passenger in his girlfriend, Leah Mumbie's 2019 Honda Passport when that SUV went off the interstate in Flagler County, Florida,

slamming into a tree at high speed. The couple had just left Waterman's cousins home where they had been watching the Super Bowl. On a 911 call, you can hear Mumbie screaming for help after the crash. No. Hello. Okay. What's going on? We have help on the way.

I need you to take a deep breath and talk to me. Okay. Did you say someone's dead? Florida Highway Patrol troopers report that both Mumbi and Daniel had to be extricated from the crumpled car. According to police documents, Daniel had multiple spinal injuries, a broken clavicle, a dislocated hip, a fractured leg, and more. Family members flew down from New York to stay by his bedside at a hospital in Daytona Beach, where photos and videos showed him hooked up to machines that were keeping him alive. Meanwhile, a report from FHP says Mumbi was also hospitalized but released when Daniel woke up from his coma.

He had a shocking, shocking story to tell. He claimed that Mumbie intentionally drove her car off the road and into a tree after the two got into a fight. His mom told Syracuse.com that Daniel could barely talk. So police pointed to letters on a board while he made sounds indicating what letter he wanted to use. an arduous and no doubt frustrating process, but Daniel was able to give them critical information. Here's what an FHP affidavit stated. On May 15th, 2025, I conducted a recorded interview with Daniel Waterman. In his interview, Daniel stated that he and Leah were in an argument due to personal issues with Leah finding out she was pregnant that day and a text message Daniel received from a

female friend in New York. Daniel and Leah exchanged expletives. Daniel stated Leah, Leah, began driving recklessly. Daniel stated she slowed down to 50 miles per hour, and he tried to get out of the car, but then Leah began to speed up to 80 to 90 miles an hour. Daniel stated the last thing he remembers before the crash was Leah told him, I don't care what happens. You'll get what you deserve and swerved off the roadway, colliding with a tree, making Daniel incapacitated. So what did Mumby have to say about that? Upon speaking with Leah several days later, after Leo was released from the hospital. Leah claims to not know what happened prior to the crash and only remembers waking up in agonizing pain. Fortunately, Mumbie's unborn babies survived the crash. The cousins

that Daniel had been watching the Super Bowl with Jessica and Sarah Stappenbeck spoke with Florida outlet Flagler Live about that night. Jessica said Daniel and Mumbie left before the end of the game and that she was the last person to speak to Mumbie before the crash. She claims Mumbie called her twice while she drove allegedly upset about Daniel being in contact with a female friend back in New York. Stappenbeck claimed Mumbie took Daniel's phone from him again while she was driving. Stappenbeck told Flegler Live she got a text from Daniel just minutes before the crash, but she believes it was actually Mumbie who sent it. The text allegedly said, this is what he gets for being a liar and a cheater. Have you ever wondered what's publicly available about you online? You know,

things like arrest records, phone numbers, addresses, even your social media accounts. That's why I want to tell you about TruthFinder. TruthFinder is one of the largest public record search services in the United States. Here's how it works. Log on to TruthFinder.com and type in a name, maybe even your own. Within minutes, you can access unlimited reports that could include information like your phone number, your residence history, your criminal and traffic records, and possible arrests and criminal convictions and registered sex offenders who live near you.

TruthFinder can truly help provide peace of mind when you use these unlimited public record searches by finding out what's available about yourself and the people in your life. Right now, you can get 50% off of confidential background reports. Just log on to www.truthfinder.com slash LC CrimeFix. Log on and start accessing information about almost anyone. To try to pin down critical details, investigators turn to the car's EDR or event data reader, similar to a black box to find out what happened in the moments leading up to the crash. The FHP report states, the vehicle is moving steadily at around 93 to 95 miles per hour,

three to five seconds prior to the crash. The accelerator input increases four seconds prior to the crash. The brakes were not applied. The report then describes the impact point when the Honda collided with the tree. Speed, 52 miles an hour, accelerator pedal, 100% throttle at the impact. the time of impact. Breaks off. Stability control still engaged. Steering 175 degrees indicating a hard right turn. Flagler County prosecutors charged Leah Mumby with reckless driving causing serious bodily injury and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. Video shared by Daniel's

Aunt Tiffany shows the moments when Mumby turned herself in at the sheriff's office in July and was put in handcuffs. She was booked into the Flagler County Jail and released on $25,000. Bail. Also in July, Daniel was flown by a medical chopper from Florida to New York, where he continued his recovery at a hospital in Syracuse. His mom says he was improving. He was actually able to get out of bed and use a wheelchair to start physical therapy. His mom also says he believed Mumbie's baby was his, and he had started taking online parenting classes with his mom's help. According to Syracuse.com, Daniel allegedly told her he wanted to be part of the baby girl's life no matter what. He told me, I'm never going to break a promise to her. He said, I'm always going to be

there for her. But Daniel caught pneumonia, and in his weakened state, his body couldn't fight it off. He passed away on October 8th. A little more than two weeks later, Flegler County prosecutors filed an amended information in Mumbie's case, tacking on a vehicular homicide charge on October 24th. Mumbie has not been arraigned on that new charge yet and is still out on bail. Her next court date is next month on the 19th. So to discuss this just awful case, I want to bring in Daniel Waterman's aunt. She is Tiffany Waterman and also the family's lawyer, John Hager. Thank you to both of you for joining me today.

Tiffany, I'll start with you. First of all, I want to offer my condolences to you and the rest of Daniel's family for the loss that you're going through and just everything, it's just horrific. How are you and Daniel's mom and the rest of the family doing? It's tough, very tough. Every day, it's hard. Tell me about Daniel. What do you want people to know about him?

What kind of guy was he? I'm horrible at this. It's so fresh right now. I think that's why it's very hard to discuss. He was wonderful. What I want everyone to know is he was just starting his adulthood. He was just maturing, you know, realizing about life and what it really means. And it was beautiful to see him becoming the man he was going to be before that ended too abruptly.

He was always an athlete in his entire life. He was so strong. He was six, five. He was a big guy. And he was the best cousin to my children. who looked up to him, he could do no wrong ever. It was definitely about family. He loved us just so deeply.

It's just sad because everything was just cut way too short. What sports did he play? He played. If he tried at any sport, he was amazing. He was the best. His passion was basketball, though. Yeah, being 6'5, I think that would make him a pretty good basketball player. Very good.

You know, when this happened, take me back to when this happened i i just can't even imagine getting that call that he's been in this horrific crash yes i was i was sleeping in bed and a boring you know mother too sleeping in bed and uh it's a little after 2 a m and i got the phone call from my grandmother and she had already spoken to my sister his mother and she told me about the crash and she said it doesn't look good he's probably not going to make it and it just killed me he was in the hospital fighting for so long and you know there it sounded like there was hope that he could make it and then you know he wakes up from this coma and you know he's able to

communicate that this was intentional i mean what was the family's reaction when that happened I think we were more concentrating in like that he was able to come to just watching him come to was absolutely amazing it actually took us a little while to try to understand he was trying to tell us something

you have to just imagine like put yourself there coming out of a coma it was a kind of induced coma and we were able to use an alphabet letterboard And he, and we pointed to every single letter until he spelled it out. And he spelled out an entire statement. There is a baby involved in all of this. And it sounds like you guys, we were talking before we started, that your family has kind of been kept in the dark about the baby and the birth of the baby.

And Daniel, it seems like, believed the baby was his baby. So talk to me a little about this part of that. um of the story okay so we have been definitely kept in the dark there hasn't been any communication between our party or the opposite party um dana was looking forward to meeting his baby holding his baby and raising his baby that i think is what kept him going in the hospital he would try to do exercises to and strengthen his arm and say i'm going to be able to hold my baby I'm going to get out of here. So it's definitely something he was looking forward to.

But we have no information or details about anything. The only thing we did know when accident initial happened, she was in communication with us and she did, you know, send some updates and sonogram pictures. And we did find out it was a girl. So that is basically the extent of our knowledge of the entire pregnancy. And the baby was born. You know, she did give, Leah did give birth.

I have no details on the birth whatsoever, but we have heard, yes, that she has had a baby. Her due date was October 10th. So that is to be expected. John, talk to me about what you're doing to assist the family. Well, you know, for the family, this is unknown territory. This is something they've never had to deal with. I've been a prosecutor for several years and now criminal defense attorney, so I know the process very well. I know the prosecutor's involved and I know the system.

And what I'm trying to do is just to be the one to tell them each and every step of the way, what's going on and what the next step is and what to expect and to just really enlighten them on any questions they have to facilitate their communications with the state attorney's office. if the state attorney's office need something for them or request anything from them. I'm just there to facilitate that. And Tiffany, it's my understanding that Daniel incurred a lot of medical expenses. You know, he thought he was going to make it and he caught pneumonia and then passed away earlier this month. What are you guys doing? Are you trying to raise money to pay those medical bills? Is insurance going to cover those?

Tell me a little bit about that. Unfortunately, insurance only goes so far, and it barely made a dent into the bills that have accumulated. I mean, eight months in the hospital and the ICU unit, you can only imagine how high those go. We're talking into the millions. We do have a GoFundMe set up for him. We did have an extreme amount of expenses while trying to stay in Daytona. The entire family was taking turns. watching him at all times.

He was never alone while in Florida in the ICU. There was one of us by his side the entire time, which can be very costly. We're all experiencing every family member is experiencing death this year. So it's been very hard, but we do have the GoFundee up that is hopefully helping with some of those medical costs, funeral costs now. It's just quite a lot. I can't even begin to imagine what your family has been through. I assume that nothing is going to bring Daniel back, but the criminal charges are the beginning

of getting some measure of justice for him. Were you pleased to see that the prosecutor is obviously moving forward with the vehicular homicide charge? Yes, I do have confidence in our legal team. It's what we're holding on to right now. One of the last conversations that we had with him, with Daniel, he did express that he wants justice for what was done to him. And that's what we're going to try to do. And one of the things, if I can go back, I want to facilitate to make sure that their voice is heard,

that, you know, Daniel's voice is heard through the family and that they have a right and opportunity to speak at some point in this process to let them know how Ms. Mambi affected their lives, each and every one of their lives, and took, you know, a very special person away from them. No doubt. Well, Tiffany Waterman and John Hager, thank you so much for joining me. Again, Tiffany, I am so sorry for what your family has been through and is continuing to go through. Please let us know if there's anything we can ever do. Thank you.

Thank you for your time. Thank you. So to discuss the legal aspects of this case, I want to bring in a criminal defense attorney based in Florida. She is Caseya early. KCia, I have some questions for you, you know, about the statements that Daniel Waterman made to investigators. You know, this is a very, very sad case. Is it possible that what he said when he woke up from that coma that, that Leah did this on purpose, is there any chance that that might not be admissible at trial because he's not here to testify to that and the defense can't cross-examine him i don't think so uh it depends on the witnesses that's being called who heard it who was in the room at the time it could be a

hearsay exception of presence impression um after he uh was awoke from a coma but there's also additional evidence that can come in allegedly there was a text message that she sent four minutes before she veered off the highway purposely and ended up landing and crashing into a tree, that this is what he gets for being a liar and a cheater. So that can also go towards motive. And in this case, I do believe that she's going to testify because she's going to have to explain her actions and that text message that was sent from her phone. So you you see a trial, if this case actually goes to trial, that Leah Mumbie, because we, we do have evidence, we have her own words being used against her, that she may have to take the stand and explain that.

Absolutely. I mean, oftentimes we don't like our clients to take the stand because as well as they think they will do during direct examination, they tend to crumble under cross-examination. But there's certain cases, especially if you're claiming, let's say, self-defense or if there's a hole that has not been explained, you may have to take the stand and address those issues. But oftentimes we may not want our clients to take the stand for other reasons. There could be a very lengthy criminal background that the defendant may have or we may not want to expose that to the jury. And obviously it comes out if they choose to take the stand. So in this case, it's up to the defense attorney to make that determination whether taking the stand will increase their case or make their case better in closing arguments to show that the state failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they prove. each and every element of the crime.

What would you advise Leah Mumbi to do in this case? You know, obviously the defense team has to get all of the discovery. They have to go through all of the evidence, file all of the appropriate motions. But, I mean, this is a tragedy. Everything we know about this case thus far, I mean, there's a child involved here. We have a woman who, it sounds like, is accused of being kind of unstable here and purposely wrecking a car to kill somebody. I mean, to kill the father of her child.

So, you know, thank goodness the baby was not harmed. So what do you see happening with this case? That's exactly what I was going to bring up. It's not just the passenger in the vehicle, her boyfriend at the time, who was the father of her child, is the fact that she was pregnant. So this was not only reckless, it was grossly negligent on her part to purposefully drive this vehicle,

off the highway, running to a tree, knowing that she was pregnant. She had complete disregard for an unborn life in her. So this screams some elements, and I'm thinking as a criminal defense attorney, maybe some mental issues. But again, you just can't claim mental issues as a defense. There has to be a history of some mental illness. Maybe she wasn't on her medication, but it has to be corroborated by not only medical records, expert testimony. So this case is a very sad case for various reasons. Unfortunately,

he was in the hospital for eight months. We know that he passed away. So these charges have been elevated. The information has been amended. You're looking at second degree felony, vehicular homicide, which carries a penalty of up to 15 years Florida State Prison. So you're looking at enhanced charges, and we don't know if that's going to increase if she has a past criminal record that will be added on to her score sheet for additional criminal. Well, we will keep an eye on it to see where it goes. It's a tragedy. And Daniel Waterman should still be here to enjoy that baby horrific.

Casey Earley, thank you so much. Thanks for having me. This case is so incredibly tragic. And if it sounds eerily similar to the Ohio case of McKenzie Sherilla, you're not the only one thinking that. Back in July of 2022, when Sherilla was 17, she was accused of intentionally slamming her speeding car into the side of a building. Sherilla's boyfriend, 20-year-old Dominic Russo, died on impact. Their friend, Davian Flanagan, who was in the back seat, was alive when first responders found him, but he died before a rescue helicopter could

get there. Sherilla was trapped in the car, but survived. Prosecutors said Sherilla and Russo had a toxic, abusive relationship, and she wanted to not only kill him, but also herself. She was charged as an adult with 12 counts, including murder, felonious assault, and aggravated vehicular homicide. A judge found her guilty of all counts during a 2023 bench trial and sentenced her to two life sentences to be served concurrently, meaning at the same time. Her first shot at parole is in 2037. And we'll keep an eye on this case for you out of Florida involving the death of Daniel Waterman. That's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Leady. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.