Tammy Blankenship: Anonymous Letter, Trial, and Sentence

The Tammy Blankenship case ended in February 2024, when a McLennan County jury convicted the former Texas school administrator of manslaughter and failure to stop and render aid in the 2016 hit-and-run death of Baylor University sophomore David Grotberg. Blankenship struck Grotberg with her car as he rode his bicycle in Waco, fled the scene, and concealed her involvement for more than two years. The case went cold until an anonymous letter arrived at the Waco Police Department in September 2018 naming her as the driver. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison.¹

The Night David Grotberg Was Killed

On the evening of October 6, 2016, Grotberg and his girlfriend, Kaitlyn Morris, were riding bicycles on Franklin Avenue in Waco after a movie. Around 10 p.m., a vehicle traveling at high speed struck Grotberg from behind. Morris, riding ahead, heard the impact and turned to see him “flying in the air over me,” she later testified. He landed unconscious and bleeding. The vehicle did not stop.² Grotberg, a 19-year-old sophomore from Fergus Falls, Minnesota, was pronounced dead at Baylor Scott and White Hillcrest Medical Center.³

Early witnesses described the vehicle as a white SUV. Waco police spent two months looking for a white Toyota RAV4 and found nothing. The investigation stalled, and the department eventually told the Grotberg family the case was unlikely to be solved.⁴

The Anonymous Letter That Reopened the Case

In September 2018, nearly two years after the crash, Waco police received an anonymous letter naming Tammy Blankenship as the driver. The letter said she had been drinking wine at a party for Midway Independent School District administrators in Woodway on the night of the crash, and it pointed investigators toward a female coworker as a witness.⁵ Lead Detective John Clark, a 12-year veteran of fatal-crash investigations, reopened the case.⁴

What Investigators Found

Clark located 2016 photographs from a Waco repair shop showing the front passenger-side damage to Blankenship’s silver Hyundai Accent: a caved-in windshield and a bumper indentation consistent with striking a person and a bicycle. Blankenship had told the shop and her insurer that she had hit a portable stop sign on University Parks Drive.⁵

Hannah Ashley, a social worker who had worked with Blankenship at a Midway ISD alternative school, told investigators and later testified that on the morning after the crash, Blankenship called her into her office. She was visibly shaken and holding a phone displaying a news story about the fatal hit-and-run. According to Ashley, Blankenship said: “I killed a kid, I killed a kid, I killed a kid.”⁶ Ashley said she helped Blankenship move the damaged Hyundai Accent roughly 30 miles to a Walmart parking lot in Marlin. When the two later came across a knocked-over portable stop sign on University Parks Drive, Blankenship adopted it as her story and was, Ashley said, in “much better spirits.”⁴

Cell tower data analyzed by Waco PD criminal intelligence analyst Bret Page placed Blankenship’s phone near the crash scene at 9:50 p.m. on October 6, 2016, three minutes before the 911 call reporting Grotberg’s death.⁵ When Clark interviewed Blankenship, she shifted explanations. She said she had hit a stop sign, then said she did not remember, then suggested she might have struck a homeless person. Clark told her the damage to her car was not consistent with hitting a sign.⁷

Arrest and Charges

Blankenship, also known as Tammy Blankenship Harlan, was arrested on March 5, 2019, and released on a $20,000 bond. She was 50 years old and had served as executive director of special populations and federal programs for Midway ISD from August 2016 until June 2018.⁸

In June 2020, a McLennan County grand jury indicted her on two second-degree felonies: manslaughter and failure to stop and render aid in an accident involving death. Each count carried up to 20 years. Under Texas Transportation Code § 550.021, a driver involved in a fatal crash who fails to stop and render aid commits a second-degree felony.⁹ After a 2023 postponement, trial began on January 29, 2024, in the 54th District Court before Judge Susan Kelly.¹⁰

The Trial and the Defense

The 10-day trial was prosecuted by McLennan County Assistant Criminal District Attorneys Will Hix and Tara Avants. Shane Phelps represented Blankenship.¹¹ Prosecutors played a 51-minute recording of Clark’s interview with Blankenship and called Ashley and Morris as witnesses. An auto glass technician testified in rebuttal that the windshield damage was caused by a heavy object, not a stop sign.⁵

The defense attacked the quality of the investigation. Phelps noted that no scaled crime-scene diagrams were produced, that a 911 call recording had not been preserved, and that Clark had incorrectly stated in an arrest affidavit that blood was found on Blankenship’s car. He pointed out that silver paint on Grotberg’s bicycle did not match Blankenship’s vehicle and that eyewitnesses had described a white SUV, which Blankenship did not own.⁷

Verdict and Sentence

After seven hours of deliberation, the jury convicted Blankenship on both counts and found that she had used her vehicle as a deadly weapon. The deadly-weapon finding meant she would have to serve at least half of any prison sentence before parole eligibility.¹²

The defense asked the jury to grant probation. Phelps cited Blankenship’s difficult childhood and her career as an educator, and he called two former Harris County prosecutors as character witnesses: Kelly Siegler and Lisa Tanner. The connection was unusual. Blankenship had been a key witness in the murder prosecution of David Temple, who was convicted of killing his pregnant wife, Blankenship’s best friend. Siegler, who first tried the Temple case in 2007, tearfully told jurors Blankenship would be an excellent candidate for probation. Tanner, who retried the case in 2019, offered a similar opinion.⁵

Prosecutors answered with a 2018 incident. Blankenship had been arrested for driving while intoxicated in Austin while attending a work conference, then lied to her employers about it, which led to her demotion and resignation from Midway ISD. The DWI case was later dismissed as part of a plea agreement, but prosecutors argued the episode showed her behavior had not changed after she killed Grotberg.⁵ McLennan County District Attorney Josh Tetens said “Blankenship’s repeated lies and deception showed a total lack of respect for the life she stole.”¹¹

After three hours, the jury rejected probation. Judge Kelly sentenced Blankenship to 10 years on each count, served concurrently, with parole eligibility after five years.¹

The Grotberg Family’s Response

David’s mother, Diane Grotberg, told the court the family had waited 2,189 days for justice and that Blankenship’s cover-up had left them “in turmoil.” His father, Clark Grotberg, addressed Blankenship directly: “Repentance must come before forgiveness.” He read aloud “David’s 10 Commandments,” a document his son had written for a Baylor honors course describing his personal faith.¹¹ He noted that David had been riding behind Morris that night, and that his position had likely saved her life. The family said they forgave Blankenship. “David would be the first person to wrap his arms around you and bring you to Jesus,” his father told her.¹

1
Baylor Lariat. Blankenship Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for 2016 Hit-and-Run Death of Baylor Student
2
KWTX. Girlfriend Asks God to Stay With Him After Boyfriend Killed in Hit-and-Run
3
Baylor Lariat. Student Killed in Hit-and-Run
4
Baylor Lariat. Trial Underway for Woman Accused of Killing Baylor Student in 2016 Hit-and-Run
5
Texas District and County Attorneys Association. It All Started With an Anonymous Letter
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KWTX. Co-Worker Testifies Blankenship Told Her ‘I Killed a Kid’
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KWTX. Detective Tells Jurors How Anonymous Letter Implicated Tammy Blankenship
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KWTX. Local Woman Arrested in Hit-and-Run Death of Baylor Student
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FindLaw. Texas Transportation Code Section 550.021
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KWTX. Trial of Ex-Waco Educator Charged in Hit-and-Run Death of Baylor Student Postponed
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KWTX. Grotberg Family Gives Emotional Impact Statements Following Blankenship’s Prison Sentence
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KWTX. Blankenship Guilty in 2016 Hit-and-Run Death of Baylor University Student