A commercial truck driver from Louisiana rear-ended a vehicle on Interstate 55 just south of St. Louis on September 28, 2025. The collision caused a chain reaction involving eight vehicles. Richard Allen Holden, 45, hit a Toyota Camry with Vanessa Y. Knowles, 63, and Donnie Briggs, 66, both from Memphis, Tennessee, inside. Both women perished in the crash. Their car hit local mom Darla P. Parris, 53, who also died. When investigators spoke to Holden, he reportedly told them that he had started to slow down, but the dash cam footage told a different story.
According to a probable cause statement from the Missouri State High Patrol, the accident occurred in the northbound lanes of the highway headed toward St. Louis. The eight vehicles driven by the victims were all moving slowly in the right lane, “where the left lane was closing and there was a forcible merge lane closing the left lane,” the statement notes.
Holden, driving a 2022 Freightliner, was also traveling in the right lane but at approximately 70 miles per hour. “Roadway evidence revealed minimal or even no attempt by Holden to slow the 2022 Freightliner before the front of it crashed through the line of vehicles,” police noted.
When first responders arrived, they declared all three women dead. Holden allegedly told police, “I think I might have dozed off.” Law enforcement administered a breathalyzer, but Holden had .000 percent alcohol on his breath.
“I was looking out the window and thought I was slowing down for the construction zone,” Holden told police. “Next thing I know, I hear crashing.”
Parris’ family is struggling with her death. Her mother, Brenda Parris, said her daughter died just one day after the two-year anniversary of her husband’s death.
“I lost my husband on September 27th, and then the very next day, Darla was killed,” she told KSDK. “She loved her kids, her grandkids, and she had so much life left. I don’t know how I’m going to make it without her.”
Darla Parris’ sister, Eva Faulkner, told KDSK her sister lived for her three daughters and six granddaughters.
“That was her everything,” Faulkner said. “Her life was revolved around her kids and her grandkids. They’re going to miss out on so much by not having her.”
Parris’ sister, Amy Hallemann, had a message for Holden.
“You’re driving a deadly weapon,” she said, per KDSK. “To fall asleep and be that negligent, and take people’s lives … I don’t know how you can live with yourself.”
In 2020, Holden posted an eerie message on Facebook. He wrote, “Sometimes I wish it would end.”
When friends asked if they could help him, Holden shared his desire to quit driving a truck for a living.
“Miss Betty sue I wish you could but I gotta clean this mess up myself first I need a job but after 18 years in a truck it’s hard to find a job outside of trucking when that’s all you know but can’t do it anymore,” he wrote.
Sadly, he’s likely gotten his wish to be out of the trucking industry, but it cost three innocent women their lives. What a tragedy.
Holden remains in Jefferson County Jail without bail. He faces three counts of involuntary manslaughter.
