Father sentenced to 22 years for leaving two young sons to die in sinking car

Reporter: Dannielle Garcia
Published: Updated:
Brothers John Wayne and Titus. Credit: via WINK News.

A man adjudicated guilty, is sentenced to 22 years in prison for a crash that killed his two sons after being left to die in a sinking car.

Their father Kenneth Wayne Lawson withdrew his not guilty plea on four charges on Wednesday and changed his plea to no contest.

And with that no contest plea, Lawson was fingerprinted and taken away to prison where he’ll spend the next 22 years behind bars.

The victims, brothers Titus and John Wayne were just seven and 10 years old, respectively, when they died in November 2020.

First responders searching for the people involved in the canal crash Thursday morning. Credit: WINK News

Lawson admitted he was drunk and driving without a license when he lost control of the car he was driving.

The car crashed into a Cape Coral canal near NE 31st Street and NE 5th Place at 11:56 a.m. on November 25.

Lawson and his girlfriend Julia Ann Drudy got out, but the boys did not.

Detectives say lawson did nothing to save his two sons.

The man who jumped into the canal to try and save those boys, Tyler Ravert, said, “That gets to me a lot still, just him sitting there doing nothing and me yelling out hey you need to come out here and help me out, and him just basically giving up. It was horrible.”

Ravert jumped into the water to try to save Titus and John.

Brothers John Wayne and Titus. Credit: via WINK News.

He said he still thinks of them almost every day, and while he hopes he will never have to do that again, “If I could go back to that night I would do everything differently … I have multiple window breakers and I give them out to family members friends.”

Our good Samaritan even gave us a couple of window breakers. They go for $10-15 on Amazon.

He truly wishes he had one that night, so now his mission is to encourage everyone to get one and keep it in the car, just in case.

As for Julia Drudy who was in the passenger seat that night she plead guilty to letting an unauthorized person drive her car and got 60 days in jail.

Kenneth Lawson and Julia Drudy. Credit: Lee County Sheriff’s Office.

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.