Ayanna Woods

A Eureka man charged on Tuesday with murder is accused of driving 70 mph over the speed limit and causing a crash that killed two St. Louis sisters. Brian R. Kelly, 26, was charged in St. Louis Circuit Court with two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of involuntary manslaughter and one count of tampering with a motor vehicle. The charges stem from a Nov. 22 crash that killed another driver, Ayanna Woods, 42, and her older sister, DeVonne Wilson, 53. Charges allege Kelly was driving a stolen Cadillac XTS at about 100 mph when he crashed into Woods’ Chevy Trax. The speed limit is 30 mph at the scene of the crash in the 4000 block of Meramec Street in Dutchtown. The car Kelly was driving flipped, police said. He was treated at a hospital for his injuries. Woods and Wilson were pronounced dead at the scene. Kelly was out on bail on four pending counts of stealing a motor vehicle at the time of the crash, according to court records. All four counts were filed in St. Louis County from February to April 2021. Woods was a mother of two who worked as a ticketing system manager at the Missouri Botanical Garden before her death. “There are three children who lost their parents in an instant,” said Greg Rohde, a longtime co-worker of Woods, said after the crash. “Ayanna was very devoted to her kids,” said Rohde. Wilson had an adult son and worked for almost 25 years for the Wyman Center, a nonprofit that provides opportunities to teens from disadvantaged backgrounds.