KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A Maryville woman who authorities say lied about her role in a fatal 2020 crash on Chapman Highway faces a vehicular homicide charge.
A Knox County grand jury indicted Heather Hembree, 42, on Thursday. She's accused of killing Steven Michael Stolte, 48, of Sevierville.
Hembree has a lengthy arrest history, records show.
The crash occurred the night of Sept. 27, 2020, on Chapman Highway near Green Road. It was a Sunday.
Stolte was riding his 2006 Harley-Davidson on the road when Hembree's 2012 Nissan Sentra turned into his path, according to records.
Hembree told authorities she was a passenger at the time. She identified the driver of her car as Richard Long, and she said he'd run away after the crash.
Stolte suffered mortal injuries and died about 10 days later at University of Tennessee Medical Center. He'd worked at Dollywood, had once been a police officer in central Illinois and had worked with an ambulance service, his obituary states.
The day after the crash investigators got video surveillance footage from a gas station near the crash scene. It showed that Hembree in fact had been driving when Stolte was hit, records state.
Authorities say at the time of the crash her license had been suspended, and she "has multiple convictions for driving on suspended in Blount County..."
She told police she also didn't have insurance.
In Knox County, she pleaded guilty in February 2008 to a drug paraphernalia charge after she was found walking on Martin Mill Pike. In 2007, she pleaded guilty to having a crack pipe.
In 2004, she pleaded guilty to stealing a woman's purse from the South Knoxville Kroger, records show.
