JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Family and friends are remembering the life of a University of North Florida student killed in a crash in August 2021, as investigators from the Florida Highway Patrol say an arrest has now been made more than a year after her death.
According to court records, 61-year-old Michael Motley was arrested and charged for DUI manslaughter, vehicular homicide, and DUI with damage. A Florida Highway Patrol crash report says at the time of the crash, Motleys blood alcohol level was .174, more than twice the legal limit.
“It was definitely a bittersweet moment. It feels nice that there's some justice, but it doesn't change anything, unfortunately," Megan Mooney's friend Ashlyn Dugan said.
Megan Mooney, who was 22 when she was killed, was a criminology major who played golf at UNF. She was also a cashier at Publix and with security at the Jacksonville Beach bar, Surfer. She was also a member of the Delta Gamma sorority.
Mooney's family sent us the following statement:
"Megan’s parents, John & Carrie Mooney and her 2 brothers, Johnny & Kevin Mooney have been devastated this entire year living without their beautiful daughter and sister. We finally received the excellent news via a phone call last Thursday 8/26 from the lead FHP detective, Corporal Jason Tolman, that Michael Motley had at long last been arrested and that Corporal Tolman was the one who got to go arrest him which meant a great deal to us since Corporal Tolman had been by our side from Day 1 of this living nightmare and throughout the entire investigation process. It’s every parents worst nightmare to face losing a child in such a wasteful horrific way.
Megan never ever deserved such a fate as she was the most loving easy angel to raise as a child. From the time she was 3 years old we could tell there was something different about Megan. She’d literally give kids the clothes off her back if they needed it or loan them lunch money or let them get ahead of her in line. That carried on into her adulthood. We’ve had countless girlfriends and friends of her she’s had all her life say to us that they adored our daughter and that she made such a huge impact on their lives mainly because of her selflessness, loyalty as a friend and smiling easy-going nature. Her college girlfriends all had a very personal special stories to share with us about our sweet daughter that has warmed our hearts.
She was a hard worker, working not 1 but 2 part-time jobs thru high school & college. She was a Criminology major at UNF and had only been working at Surfer less than a year. Her job at Surfer was to assist management and the police with Security. Her job was to call Ubers for kids so they wouldn’t try to drive away in a car inebriated. She gave hand signals to the police at the door to communicate that an individual may have had too much to drink. How painfully ironic and catastrophic that she gets hit and killed by a drunk driver.
Megan was a true athlete.
She was quarterback for her high school flag football team and placed All Hillsborough County and also played on the Girls Varsity Golf Team.
She was voted by her Catholic school peers to having the most loving nature in order to play the role of the Virgin Mary in the Passion of Christ reenactment in 8th grade. She attended Nativity Catholic School for 11 years in Brandon, Fl.
UNF awarded us..her family.. with her BA in Criminology posthumously in Dec after her death. She was only 3 classes shy of graduating when she passed."
Mooney's friend Ashley Dugan says they met at UNF and says she will always remember Mooney as being strong and courageous.
"Do not drink and drive, there are so many options and there's so many different scenarios and ways that you can get help and you should never go behind the wheel drunk ever," Dugan said.
The Mooney family says they are grateful for the constant support of law enforcement throughout the entire investigation process.
Motley is being held on $265,000 bond.
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