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Fatal Anaheim hit-and-run case is dismissed by a judge

May 15, 2026

A hit-and-run vehicular manslaughter case related to a fatal Anaheim crash was thrown out by an Orange County Superior Court judge after the unavailability of a witness apparently left prosecutors unable to proceed to trial.

The case against Keri Lynn McGillivray, 44, was dismissed Thursday, May 14 by Orange County Superior Court Judge Larry Yellin, after a defense attorney objected to a request by the prosecution to delay the trial to accommodate an officer who was unavailable due to medical issues.

McGillivray was facing trial for the death of 52-year-old Michelle Malahoff-Stanford, who was killed in a three-car collision on the evening of Aug. 23, 2020 in the northbound lanes of the 241 Toll Road, just north of Santiago Canyon Road. McGillivray’s ex-husband, Jonathan McGillivray, previously pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact, and was sentenced to two years of formal probation.

Prosecutors allege that Keri McGillivray was driving a Ford Flex behind a Nissan Versa, cut into the left lane to go around the Nissan, then made an abrupt right turn and broadsided the other vehicle and forced it into a guardrail, according to court filings.

Less than a second later, prosecutors allege, McGillivray’s vehicle struck the back bumper of a Toyota Sequoia driven by Malahoff-Stanford, causing the SUV to overturn and roll several times before coming to rest in the center median area, according to the court filings. Malahoff-Stanford died in the crash.

McGillivray pulled over about 700 feet away, prosecutors wrote, and a passerby told them that a child — who was in Malahoff-Stanford’s SUV — had been injured. McGillivray’s attorney countered in their own court filings that the witness made a series of nonsensical comments to McGillivray, so she didn’t think they were telling the truth about the child.

McGillivray’s husband drove the couple away before police arrived, according to law enforcement. The couple went to a CHP station the next day. Officers suspected the couple had been drinking in Newport Beach earlier on the day of the crash, and that McGillivray had been intoxicated while driving the couple home to Yorba Linda, according to prosecution filings.

A dash-cam video collected by law enforcement reportedly didn’t capture a clear view of the crash, with other vehicles blocking the camera’s view of the Flex allegedly driven by McGillivray. Much of the evidence — and the determination of what caused the crash — came from the event data recorders — the so-called “black box” — collected from the involved vehicles, court filings show.

An Anaheim officer who collected much of the initial information about the crash was expected to be a key witness at the trial. The trial had been continued until May to accommodate that officer’s pregnancy leave, according to court filings. The prosecution had requested another delay, writing in court filings that the officer was dealing with medical complications.

An attorney for McGillivray pushed back against the delay, describing it as a “sham” in a court filing and writing that the officer had a medical issue “like most of the lawyers in the courthouse, the workers in the cafeteria, the jurors and the people who go to work each day in Orange County.”

The defense refused to waive McGillivray’s right to a speedy trial. Judge Yellin found there was not good cause to delay the trial, and since the prosecution was not ready to proceed, he dismissed the case.

It was not immediately clear if prosecutors plan to re-file the case. Officials with the Orange County District Attorney’s Office declined to comment.

Orange County Register

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Fatal Anaheim hit-and-run case is dismissed by a judge

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