Photo: Folly Beach Police
Jamie Lee Komoroski, the woman accused of driving drunk during the fatal crash that killed new bride Samantha Miller on her wedding night, admitted to being an "alcoholic [and] addict" during recorded jail phone calls with her family, the New York Post reports.
The calls, which took place in December prior to Komoroski, 26, being released on a $150,000 bond earlier this month, showed her accepting that she had no control over alcohol.
“I consider myself an alcoholic addict because anything that makes me feel different or takes me away from what I’m supposed to be feeling, I used to try to do,” Komoroski said on December 11. “I just didn’t think life had any meaning. I was extremely lonely and didn’t get life. I could never just sit down with my thoughts.”
Komoroski's blood-alcohol level was reported to be triple the legal limit in the state of South Carolina when her rented Toyota Camry struck the back of the golf cart carrying Miller, 34, and her new husband, Aric Hutchinson, 36, as they were leaving their beachside wedding reception on April 28, 2023. Miller was pronounced dead at the scene while Hutchinson and two wedding guests who were traveling with them were all injured but survived.
Hutchinson filed a civil lawsuit against Komoroski and the bars that allegedly overserved her prior to the crash. The 25-year-old was booked on April 28 and reported to have had bloodshot eyes and smelled of alcohol, as well as banged her head on a nurse's desk after being denied usage of a phone.
Komoroski was visited by family and friends in the days following her arrest, which included being worried that people would think she's a bad person because of the crash and giving her boyfriend permission to leave her. She also claimed that other inmates would get out on bond while she continued to wait for her trial before a judge eventually granted her release prior to a yet to be scheduled trial.
“There’s been people that have, like, killed people on purpose before and, like, they’ve gotten out on a bond,” Komoroski reportedly told friends while warning them to not be “stupid like I was because all it takes is one time” via the Post and Courier.
“I didn’t mean it to happen,” Komoroski added via the Post and Courier. “I just feel like a terrible person, like, I didn’t mean for any of that to happen.”
Komoroski also told her parents she hoped the judge knew "how regretful and remorseful I am, and that I’m not a bad person and that I’ll never do anything bad again,” which led to her father telling her not to speak about the crash because her conversations were being recorded.
“But I wanted to make sure that I could say an apology and they said I would be able to say an apology,” she said, which led to him responding, “Listen, stop talking about it" and later predicted she would get less than 15 years in prison but warned "you're going to have to do time."