Driver in fatal I-40 crash told trooper “God took over” the vehicle; suspected psilocybin found in cab, court records show

MAYFLOWER, Ark. — The driver of a Freightliner Sprinter that stopped in the middle of Interstate 40 near Mayflower — triggering a crash that killed a Morrilton man — told an Arkansas State Police trooper he was hallucinating at the time and that “God took over operation of the vehicle,” according to court records filed this week in Faulkner County Circuit Court.

A search of the Sprinter turned up suspected psilocybin mushrooms, along with cigarettes, a coffee cup and a coffee filter bearing suspected psilocybin residue, and ammunition, according to a search warrant return filed Monday.

The crash happened around 9:46 p.m. on Aug. 11 on westbound I-40 near the 135 mile marker. According to an Arkansas State Police fatal crash summary, a 2017 Freightliner Sprinter driven by Kenneth Wilson, 65, of Shreveport, Louisiana, came to a stop in the middle of the roadway. A 2012 Honda Accord driven by Matthew Murphy, 40, of Morrilton, struck the rear of the Sprinter at highway speed. A third vehicle, a 2023 Freightliner tractor-trailer driven by Abdishakur Ali, 57, of Minneapolis, overturned onto the shoulder while attempting to avoid the collision.

Murphy was taken to a Conway hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Wilson and Ali were both injured. Troopers determined Wilson was at fault, according to the affidavit.

In a sworn affidavit seeking the search warrant, Trooper Tanner Crossland wrote that a state police sergeant spotted a marijuana cigar in plain view on the driver’s floorboard of the Sprinter, and that both officers noticed a strong chemical odor coming from the vehicle’s interior. Wilson, the affidavit says, “was unable to accurately describe his actions leading up to the event.”

Crossland wrote that Wilson could not form complete, coherent sentences during the investigation, repeatedly drifting into descriptions of his hallucination. Wilson told the trooper he had a medical marijuana card and indicated marijuana would show up in his blood, but said he didn’t believe it caused the hallucinations. Instead, the affidavit says, Wilson blamed a substance he called “Tree Killer” that a friend had given him days earlier and that he said he had gotten on his fingers.

Wilson, who told investigators he was living in the Freightliner and was its only occupant, said that if the vehicle were searched, a substance would be found, but claimed he did not know what it was and that it did not belong to him, according to the affidavit. He consented to a blood draw at Conway Regional Hospital to determine what intoxicants, if any, were in his system.

Faulkner County District Judge Chris Carnahan signed the warrant Aug. 12, and troopers searched the vehicle that evening at a Conway impound lot. The affidavit cites suspected violations of Arkansas laws against possession of a controlled substance and driving while intoxicated. The filings do not reflect any charges against Wilson yet or the results of the blood test.