Lorraine Marie O’Neill faces sentencing in October after a jury found her guilty of neglect of a minor.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A Maryland grandmother has been convicted of child neglect in connection with the death of her 7-year-old grandson, who fell through a rear window of her moving car on Interstate 97 and was struck by another vehicle in Anne Arundel County.
An Anne Arundel County jury found Lorraine Marie O’Neill, 68, of Hagerstown, guilty Aug. 12 of one count of neglect of a minor following a four-day trial in Circuit Court. Judge Ginina Jackson-Stevenson scheduled sentencing for Oct. 2. The misdemeanor carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, a $5,000 fine or both, according to the county State’s Attorney’s Office.
The case stemmed from the evening of Nov. 24, 2024, when prosecutors said O’Neill was driving a 2011 Mazda 3 north on I-97 through Millersville. Her grandson was riding in a car seat on the rear passenger side. Near Benfield Boulevard, the boy fell through the rear passenger window and landed on the interstate, where he was struck by an approaching vehicle.
Maryland State Police troopers were dispatched at about 7 p.m. after a pedestrian was reported on the roadway near Benfield Boulevard. Anne Arundel County Fire and EMS personnel pronounced the child dead at the scene. Authorities have not publicly identified the boy in the accounts reviewed for this report.
Prosecutors said O’Neill continued north for about 11 miles before realizing her grandson was no longer in the car. She told investigators she noticed the empty car seat while traveling near Interstate 695 and Route 2 and stopped at the nearest gas station.
According to the State’s Attorney’s Office, O’Neill told investigators that she had allowed her grandson to play with the vehicle’s rear power window and that the window’s child lock was not engaged that night. Those circumstances became central to the neglect case prosecutors brought against her.
State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess said after the verdict that the prosecution centered on accountability and the responsibility of adults caring for children. She also noted the effect of the boy’s death on witnesses, first responders and two men who removed him from the roadway.
Leitess said O’Neill’s testimony at trial differed significantly from statements she initially made to investigators. The State’s Attorney’s Office did not provide a detailed account of those differences in its public announcement of the verdict, and the material reviewed for this report did not include a full trial transcript or the defense’s closing arguments.
The verdict resolves the question of criminal liability at the trial level but not O’Neill’s punishment. Jackson-Stevenson is scheduled to sentence O’Neill on Oct. 2, when the court may impose a penalty up to the statutory maximum for neglect of a minor.
Author note: Last updated August 17, 2026.