Insets, left to right: William Klingler, Elsa McGrain (Douglas County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The area in Kansas where William Klingler allegedly killed Elsa McGrain in a hit-and-run crash while driving for DoorDash (WDAF/YouTube).
A DoorDash driver in Kansas with four DUIs in five years was allowed to make drop-offs for the food delivery company — leading to him killing a woman jogging while operating his car with a suspended license — after it failed to vet him properly, a lawsuit says. The worker allegedly tried to cover up the slaying by pretending he hit a deer.
William Klingler, 37, was an “unvetted, unauthorized DoorDash driver who was unfit to operate a commercial delivery vehicle” but was allowed to do it anyway after he managed to “circumvent” DoorDash’s background check process, according to a legal petition filed by the parents of slain jogger Elsa McGrain.
Klingler was “actively making deliveries” on Nov. 7, 2025, when he allegedly slammed into McGrain, 20, of Lawrence, as she was running along the 1700 block of East 1500 Road, south of U.S. Highway 24-40 near the Lawrence Regional Airport. McGrain’s body was not discovered until the next morning.
After mowing McGrain down, Klingler allegedly fled in his Ford F-150 pickup truck and evaded arrest for two days before being caught on Nov. 9, 2025. He is charged with failure to stop at the scene of an accident resulting in death, operating a car without an ignition interlock device, and driving while suspended.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office reported in a probable cause affidavit that after hitting McGrain, Klingler had someone inspect damage that was done to his vehicle and told them he hit a deer. The person who looked at the truck “questioned the deer accident because he saw no deer hair on the vehicle,” according to the affidavit.
Klingler “expressed that he was scared” before he eventually showed the person “what was hit,” the affidavit adds. The individual “explained to Mr. Klingler that was the legal way to walk in the road,” according to police investigators.
McGrain’s parents filed their lawsuit against Klingler and DoorDash on Feb. 4, 2026, and claimed that his “dangerous” history of DUI arrests should have been discovered by DoorDash before they hired him. He was charged at least four times between 2018 and 2023, the legal petition points out.
“DoorDash actually knew, or should have known upon a reasonable vetting, facts showing defendant Klingler’s unfitness to operate a commercial delivery vehicle, including but not limited to his having a suspended driver’s license and his numerous previous convictions for crimes such as driving under the influence, bypassing ignition interlock device requirements, drug possession, and various traffic safety infractions,” the petition says. “DoorDash’s conduct created and profited from a business model that foreseeably allowed dangerous individuals to circumvent its background check process.”
A GoFundMe launched for McGrain’s family describes her as a “pre-med student” at the University of Kansas who was a “talented soccer player” and a “devoted member of her sorority.”
Klingler is currently being held without bond at the Douglas County Detention Center. He is due to appear in court for a status conference on Feb. 17.
