“You’ll Get What You Deserve”: A Dad-to-Be’s Chilling Deathbed Testimony Exposes the Truth Behind a Fatal Crash
For nine excruciating months, the family of 22-year-old Daniel Waterman has lived in the heavy shadow of a tragedy that only grows more agonizing with time.
What initially appeared to be a horrific single-vehicle accident on a Florida roadside has unravelled into a story of alleged jealousy, psychological cruelty, and a dying man’s final struggle to ensure the truth came to light before his breath ran out.
The nightmare began on Super Bowl Sunday in February 2025 in Flagler County, Florida. Waterman was riding in a vehicle driven by his then-pregnant girlfriend, Leigha Mumby, when the car veered off course and slammed violently into a tree.
Airflighted from the wreckage in critical condition, the young father-to-be spent months tethered to machines in an intensive care unit, fighting for his life.
On October 8, 2025, Waterman succumbed to his catastrophic injuries. Just three days after he passed away, Mumby gave birth to their daughter—a baby girl who entered the world without a father, and whose existence has become another painful battleground for a grieving family.
A Brief Awakening and a Haunting Disclosure
Before he died, Waterman achieved what his doctors and loved ones had prayed for: a brief window of consciousness. Though frail and severely injured, he used those precious moments to give police and his family a terrifying, first-hand account of what really transpired inside the vehicle before it left the road.
As his aunt, Tiffany Waterman, later detailed to local news outlet WSYR-TV, the fateful drive descended into chaos over an innocent text message.
The couple had begun arguing after Waterman received a notification from a female friend he had known since middle school. The message ignited intense jealousy in Mumby, and the argument quickly escalated while they were in transit.
Aware of her boyfriend’s deep-seated phobia of motor vehicle accidents—having survived a previous crash that left him terrified of being on the road—Mumby allegedly weaponized his fear:
-
The Escalation: As the argument intensified, Mumby initially slowed the vehicle down to roughly 50 miles per hour.
-
The Desperate Escape: Paralyzed by anxiety over the mounting tension and speed, Waterman attempted to open the door and jump clear of the moving car.
-
The Acceleration: Knowing his intense trauma regarding car crashes, Mumby reportedly hit the gas pedal, accelerating the vehicle past 90 miles per hour.
According to Waterman’s deathbed statement, the last words he heard before the vehicle smashed into the tree were cold, deliberate, and chilling:
"I don't care what happens. You'll get what you deserve."
— Leigha Mumby's alleged final words to Daniel Waterman before the impact.
A Family’s Promise and a Child Kept in the Shadows
Following an investigation bolstered by Waterman’s statements and physical evidence from the scene, prosecutors charged Mumby with vehicular homicide.
Yet for Waterman’s family, who have spent months traveling back and forth between Central New York and Florida for court proceedings, the legal battle is only one half of their grief.
Cruelly, they have been completely cut off from Waterman’s newborn daughter. They do not know what she looks like, how she is doing, or even what name she was given.
“That tears at our heart,” said Waterman’s grandfather, Michael Gilman. “She needs to know who her dad was. She never got to meet him, so it’s our charge to make sure she knows him.”
For Gilman, the tragedy hits with devastating emotional force. He helped raise Waterman from the day he was born, frequently citing the moment he cut his grandson’s umbilical cord as one of the defining, proudest milestones of his life.
Watching the young man transform into a responsible adult ready to welcome his own child makes his sudden loss almost impossible to bear.
“It was beautiful to see him start to mature,” his aunt Tiffany reflected. “That’s what’s really sad—he was just starting out on his life at 22.”
The Road Ahead: Seeking Justice in a Florida Courtroom
As the pretrial hearings progress in Florida, the family remains resolute. They view every court date, every long-distance flight, and every painful reminder of that February night as a vow being kept to a young man whose voice was almost silenced.
“We promised Daniel we will make sure he gets justice,” Gilman declared. “We’ll do everything in our power to make sure that his daughter knows him as best anybody could.”
With vehicular homicide charges now moving forward, the judicial system will ultimately decide Mumby’s fate. But for the family left behind, true justice will only be served when Daniel’s story is heard—and when the little girl he never got to hold finally learns the truth about the father who loved her before she was even born.