The McFadden family doesn’t want anyone else to go through what they have been through since their wife and mother, Kathleen, was killed in a car crash July 6, 2024.

There is anger. There is frustration with the system, but there is also a wish by the family that the life of this kind, compassionate woman, should not be defined just by the way in which she died.

That’s one reason they are closely following the progress of a bill introduced by Rep. Joe Hamm, R-Hepburn Township, that would make homicide by vehicle a direct file offense in adult court. The bill, known as the “Kathleen McFadden Law” is currently in the judicial committee.

Kathleen was riding in a car driven by her husband, Mark, when, according to a newspaper account, their northbound vehicle and a southbound vehicle collided. Kathleen was killed instantly.

The young man who was driving the other car was 17 at the time.

The accident was cited by Hamm as his motivation for introducing the bill. If it passes, the law would set the standard for cases such as the McFadden’s.

“I don’t think the general public understands that in order for a juvenile to stay in adult court, it has to be under one of the I believe eight direct filings. So vehicular homicide is not one of those, so we knew that we needed to make a change somehow. The state of Pennsylvania certainly isn’t going to raise the driving age to 18, so there’s a gap there,” said Ashley Weaver, Kathleen’s daughter.

“What we would hope is that when you turn 16 and get your driver’s license, when you sign for your license, you now understand that you could be tried as an adult if you should kill somebody vehicular homicide with recklessness,” she added.

Her sister Brandy Davis pointed out that they were not talking about an accident that happens because of some unavoidable circumstance, such as a deer running in front of your car — they’re talking about gross negligence or recklessness. Which is what they feel occurred in their parents’ accident.

Police reports stated that his speed was estimated between 76 and 83 mph just seconds before the crash. The McFadden’s were traveling between 49 and 54 mph according to the same report.

That describes recklessness for the McFaddens. Plus the young man admitted he could see the McFadden car, but thought he had enough time to pass the car in front of him.

“He said he saw me a quarter of a mile away,” McFadden said.

In December, 2024, the driver was charged as an adult homicide by vehicle and other offenses, a count of murder in the third degree, two counts of aggravated assault by vehicle, three counts of recklessly endangering another person, and one count each of reckless driving, careless driving, passing on the left in an unsafe manner, failing to use a seatbelt and speeding.

“Grossly negligent actions” were cited as a reason for filing the charges, but the defense argued that it was “nothing more than a traffic accident.” Ultimately the third-degree murder charge was thrown out because it was ruled there was no malice. Once that was thrown out, the charges did not rise to the level of filing in the adult court system.

The case headed to juvenile court last year, where it stands now. The family is waiting to see what comes next. Ultimately there is the possibility if nothing is resolved before he turns 21, charges would be expunged. In the meantime the teen driver, who is now 19, is out on bail.

“At the end of the day, though, we don’t want to see anybody else go through this sort of situation ever. You shouldn’t have to go through this sort of situation. The hoops that we’ve jumped through and the constant run around, for lack of better words, has been disappointing,” Weaver said.

Her sister expressed her frustration with the system they feel has failed them and their mother.

“We just don’t want anyone to have to go through with what we have. This should have been a done deal a year ago, like in reality, at least we feel it should have been…the trooper told dad it’s not your fault. He admitted it was his fault. So I just don’t understand. It’s extremely frustrating with the way the laws are written,” Davis said.

Weaver also worries that the way the law is now, sends a dangerous message to young drivers.

“Ultimately, the message that is being sent to young drivers is not a good one. You can recklessly drive and take somebody’s life and pretty much not have any fall back on you at this point. So that’s really a scary message to be sending to our youth,” she said.

McFadden shared that he thinks about Kathleen every day. He is angry about the way the law seems to have failed his family, but is hopeful that the law proposed by Hamm will help.

“It’s kind of why we’re doing it, to try to get some, some kind of closure for her, more than anything,” McFadden said.

“He’s out running around — she’s been under the ground for over a year and a half now, isn’t it? In July it will be two years,” he said.

The family all agreed that they want to be in Harrisburg when Hamm’s bill becomes law to honor and remember the woman who was taken from them so quickly and so needlessly.

“She would do anything for anybody,” Davis said.

“Seriously, I mean, she would do anything for anybody. She would drop what she was doing to help any of her kids and here we are without her, and he’s just out there living life like nothing ever happened, and it sucks some days or way worse than others,” she said.