Running late, a woman used her car to cut stopped driver 'in half,' Missouri cops say

Elizabeth McKeown, 46. Photo / Greene County Jail.

A Springfield woman has been charged with first-degree murder after a horrifying fatal hit-and-run crash on Tuesday.

Elizabeth McKeown, 46, told police she was in a hurry to make it to the bank when she encountered stopped traffic at a Springfield intersection, the Springfield News-Leader reported.

McKeown told police that when 57-year-old Barbara E. Foster "wouldn't go," McKeown started "nudging" Foster's car and then "decided to hit it full out."

After the car was allegedly hit, witnesses and the struck driver, Foster, assumed it was a fender-bender, reported The Kansas City Star.

Foster told her co-worker on the phone that she had to go and got out of her vehicle to take a look at the damage: "She said 'Hey I just got ... rear-ended. I got to let you go.'"

According to police reports, this is when things took a turn for the nightmareish.

As Foster yelled at McKeown about the damage, McKeown didn't react.

McKeown allegedly told police later that she had "tricked" Foster into thinking she would be "still and nice" while the other woman looked at the damage.

Then, according to McKeown, she deliberately "slammed into her and cut her in half."

Traumatised witnesses caught the incident on video, reports KTTS.

One witness, Jamie Luaces-Adams, saw the whole thing, according to KY3.

"The woman who had gotten out of her car was trying to get back into her car and the Mustang came around the driver's side and went right over her.

"I see this poor woman go underneath this Mustang. And I can't believe what I am seeing."

Prosecutors say the victim was dragged for 17 metres under McKeown's car as she allegedly tried to flee the scene.

She was blocked by brave Springfield motorists who had witnessed the horrific incident. Austyn Adams jumped out and confronted the woman.

"You just ran this person over. You just ran that person over dude."

"I looked in the drivers side and she was just sitting there staring, holding the steering wheel. And she looked over at me and just kind of looked back." said Adams. "She just looked at me like no emotion, no anything, just staring. I told her you just ran a person over, you're going to jail."

McKeown allegedly mouthed back, "I know."

McKeown is being held in the Greene County Jail. First-degree murder carries a life sentence without the possibility of parole.