I have only been in Lincoln County a few years, but in that short amount of time, I’ve encountered and written about some rather nefarious characters who have come through the local court system.

There’s the guy who apparently lost his mind and shot his grandparents, the abusive husband who killed his wife and father-in-law in front of his children, a serial killer from decades ago, and of course, the most infamous of them all … Pam Hupp.

While I don’t think anyone can compare to Pam in the hate-o-meter, Hailey Zenk is apparently trying her best to give her a run for the most despised convict in Lincoln County.

Everyone who hasn’t been living under a rock knows Zenk’s story. While drunk, she drove her car off a Lincoln County road in February 2023, killing three of the vehicle’s occupants while severely injuring a fourth.

After the crash, instead of showing an appropriate level of regret and contrition, Zenk further angered victim’s families with reports of her hosting wild parties and with video surfacing of her guzzling beer through a bong at the Lake of the Ozarks.

Then to add injury to insult, a St. Charles County judge put her on probation after she pleaded guilty to all charges, essentially allowing her to avoid nearly all of a 10-year prison sentence. The judge, seemingly unaware or unconcerned with her lack of apparent regret, showed mercy.

And a month into that second chance, Zenk flipped that judge the proverbial bird, along with all the victim’s families who begrudgingly watched her escape justice, by blatantly defying the conditions of her probation.

Zenk is accused of tampering with a monitoring device used to make sure she didn’t start drinking … again … as a 19-year-old minor.

Tampering with the device typically means someone has placed something like a piece of cloth between the device and the skin, essentially rendering the device useless. And shocker of shockers, the device did “detect” alcohol during the first period it was being tampered with.

Now, because it was being tampered with at the time, the device couldn’t determine if the alcohol it detected was actually in Hailey’s blood system or a contamination from another substance like a cleaning supply.

But considering the device was being tampered with at the time for the first time, it doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to deduce what was going on.

So now the question is what will happen to Zenk when the justice system gets a second chance to possibly do what it should have done the first time: Send her to prison.

Taking everything into consideration, including her behavior after the accident, it was unacceptable for her to serve only 120-days in a county lock up after her sentencing. She killed three people. There should have been more severe consequences for an action that resulted in something so tragic.

But it didn’t. The judge, an elderly- looking fellow who looked ideally suited to take his grandchildren fishing, saw the 18-year-old before him and cut her some slack. Fine. I can almost understand the motivation.

No more though.

This isn’t an instance where the disease of addiction got the better of her, resulting in a positive blood test. No, this transgression, as presented by the prosecution, is one that required forethought and a blatant attempt to deceive the same court that gave her that second chance.

That’s completely unacceptable and should be treated as such.

Will it? I don’t know. While issuing the warrant for her arrest, that same kind-looking judge still cut her some slack by setting her bond at just $20,000.

That seems pretty low to me for someone who killed three people, cut a deal, and is now trying to circumvent

the one designed to make 100 percent sure she doesn’t drink and drive … the exact behavior that led to three deaths.

And while that bond does appear to be severe enough to keep her behind bars as Zenk has filed a motion to have it reduced, it will be interesting to see that same kind-looking judge rule over that request, days before Christmas, next Thursday. I’ll be curious to see what kind of performance is in store that day.

Fortunately for the victim’s families, who are hoping for but not counting on justice being served this time, a new judge will be assigned to preside over the probation hearing.

When Hailey was given her second chance in June, a lot of people questioned not only if she deserved it, but also how long it would take for her to ruin it.

Well, the answer was a month. Now the question is what will the justice system do when it’s given a second chance.

Will Hailey walk again with a slap on the wrist or will those families finally receive some satisfaction that there will be some real consequences for the recklessness Zenk displayed causing the death of their children.

Gregory Orear is the Publisher of the Lincoln County Journal, Elsberry Democrat and Troy Free Press. While he has too many kids to afford to be a betting man, he would take the under on a year in prison for Zenk after her latest transgression. He can be contacted at gregorear@lincolncountyjournal. com.