MS Coast security guard is guilty in DUI crash that killed New Orleans sisters

A longtime Mississippi Coast security guard said he had been drinking at a casino and had taken a pill from a friend before he caused a fiery five-car crash that killed two sisters from New Orleans, according to records filed in the case.

Joseph Leo Nangle, 45, of Ocean Springs, is facing sentencing in October on two counts of aggravated DUI causing death in the July 9, 2022, crash in Ocean Springs that killed sisters Mary “Julie” Kelley, 52, and Elizabeth “Lisa” Kelley Conners, 54.

Nangle said he had been drinking alcohol at the Golden Nugget casino in Biloxi and had taken a pill he believed to be Adderall, the drug for attention deficit disorder that he had gotten from a friend. In a toxicology screen, according to the records, Nangle had methamphetamine in his system.

Nangle did not recall the crash.

“My friend was playing blackjack,” he said. “The next thing I remember, I was in ICU.”

The crash happened on U.S. 90 at Ocean Springs Road.

Before the crash, Nangle had worked in security for years at Mississippi Coast casinos, a private security company, and a Mississippi industrial plant.

His sentencing is pending. He faces anywhere from five to 25 years in prison on each count.

Nangle had been indicted on two counts each of manslaughter, second-degree murder and aggravated DUI in the killings. Jackson County prosecutors agreed to dismiss the remaining charges in exchange for his guilty pleas. Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Mobley prosecuted the case.

Nangle remains jailed pending sentencing before Circuit Judge Kathy King Jackson.