Family speaks out about teen who killed two in 2020 Charlotte crash

A teenage driver fined $220 for her part in a double-fatal car crash that killed an elderly Addison County couple in September 2020 in Charlotte was among those arrested at an anti-Israel encampment at Columbia University in New York City last week.


Meanwhile, the family of the two dead victims still aren’t happy that Isabel Jennifer Seward of Atlanta, Ga. never went to prison for the crash.

Public records show Seward, then 16, received a Vermont civil traffic ticket for an offense listed as “driving on roadways laned for traffic” during the double fatal crash.

Seward’s mother later paid the $220 fine. Seward pleaded no contest to the violation.


Her father, William J. Seward, was a longtime high-ranking executive at United Parcel Service and the family lived in a $2.2 million home in Georgia.

The family of the couple killed in the crash — Chet Hawkins, a longtime town official in Ferrisburgh, and his wife, Connie — say they are furious that Seward was never seriously held accountable for killing the elderly pair, who were married for almost 55 years, according to news accounts. 


“The only reason she wasn’t charged with murder is because she has a rich daddy. She should be behind bars,” the New York Post quoted Eve Taylor, a niece of the victims, in its Sunday edition. 


Seward, who was visiting her grandfather, a doctor in Charlotte, was a two-sport varsity athlete at Paideia, an exclusive private school in Atlanta at the time of the crash. She was in her junior year.

Attempts to reach the Hawkins family members through their lawyer before the deadline were unsuccessful.



Connie Hawkins died at the scene of the crash, while Chet Hawkins died five hours later at the hospital. Both died from blunt trauma to the head, body and extremities, a medical examiner said.

Seward provided at least three conflicting stories about her cellphone use leading up to and after the crash near Church Hill Road about 4:05 p.m. Sept. 8, 2020, according to the Vermont State Police accident report.

A northbound driver trailing Seward captured the crash on his dash-camera video. It showed Seward in a Toyota Tacoma crossing the double yellow line and crashing into the Hawkins’ car as he tried to pull as far right into the breakdown lane to avoid Seward’s vehicle, records show.

Facing two felony criminal charges of careless and negligent driving with death resulting, Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George directed Vermont State Police to issue the teen the civil ticket, records show.

Seward arrested at Columbia University

Over the past weekend, both the New York Post and the Daily Mail reported the Hawkins family was shocked that Seward was back in the news.

Seward was among 114 protestors arrested at an anti-Israel encampment at Columbia University in New York City last week, where New York police arrested Seward, handcuffed her and led her away, the Post reported.

Taylor said she called Vermont State Police Saturday morning to see if they would re-open the investigation into the fatal crash.

“Chet and Connie’s family are all incensed,” Taylor said. “I want her charged with murder. She has no remorse; she received no punishment. ... After basically getting away with murder, she’s now promoting murder, with no understanding of what she’s promoting,” the Post quoted the niece as saying.

Seward may also have faced some kind of juvenile hearing in Vermont Family Court for the double fatal, but officials at the time said no serious action could be taken.

“The footage clearly shows Vehicle #1 leaving its lane of travel, continue travelling (sic) north in the southbound lane of US Route 7, before colliding head-on with Vehicle #2. There did not appear to be any attempt by Vehicle #1 to correct its course prior to the crash,” trooper Nate Quealy wrote in his preliminary crash report.

He said Seward estimated she was driving 56 mph in the 50-mph zone.