"I killed Kirstie Alley's mother!" That's the bombshell revelation of Cherrie Glymph, who was driving drunk when she slammed into a car carrying the former "Cheers" star's parents.
Tragically, Kirstie's mother was thrown from the vehicle and died.
Glymph received only a slap-on-the-wrist sentence for the 1981 fatality, and she never knew the identity of her victim – until The ENQUIRER unearthed long-forgotten accounts of the horrific accident and told her the appalling news.
Now, in an exclusive ENQUIRER interview, a deeply sorry Glymph pours out her heart about the terrible events of Oct. 23, 1981, when her recklessness took the life of Kirstie's beloved mom Lillian Maxine, nicknamed "Mickie."
"I shouldn't have been driving that night. I had a lot of things on my mind, and I was intoxicated," Glymph, a 57-year-old mother of three, admitted.
"I was going through a divorce. I stopped by a local club to get something to eat and I had a few drinks."
After that, Glymph – who worked at a Boeing aircraft factory – headed to her home in Wichita, Kan., on the highway. While both cars were trying to avoid an accident involving other vehicles, she crashed into the back of a car driven by Kirstie's dad Robert. The "Dancing with the Stars" contestant's mother Mickie was a passenger.
"I was told later that the other car spun out and rolled over several times, ejecting the female passenger," Glymph recalled.
"I blacked out, and when I came to, I saw a woman's body on the side of the road covered in a sheet. Then I saw paramedics working on a man. I was told later that the female passenger had died and the male driver was taken to the hospital in critical condition.
"But I never knew the name of the woman I killed. The authorities never told me the victims' names because the driver was still in the hospital and they couldn't release his name.For 30 years I've carried the burden of not knowing who I killed."
According to court records in Kansas' Sedgwick County, Glymph pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of vehicular homicide, and was sentenced to one year in the county jail and rehab.
She served about six months behind bars, and then spent the rest of her sentence in an alcohol recovery center and a halfway house.
While she was in rehab, she wrote a letter of apology to the anonymous survivor of the crash – Kirstie's father – as part of her therapy.
"The letter was never mailed, but in it I asked for forgiveness for what I'd done," Glymph recalled.
Just weeks before the accident, Kirstie – who was living in Los Angeles and auditioning for acting roles – had written her mother a long letter, apologizing for being a difficult child while growing up.
The day before her mother died, Kirstie received her reply – a touching note in which Lillian told her daughter how much she loved her.
A week later, Kirstie landed her breakout role in "Star Trek II:The Wrath of Khan" but her mother was gone.
All the details,ciourt records and a touching grave side visit are in the ENQUIRER.
