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Last updated on Friday, December 7, 2012
(SHIELDTOWN) - Jackson County Coroner Roger Wheeler says 16-year-old Brooke Hawn, whose body was found in a car after being pulled from White River died from a combination of trauma, hypothermia and freshwater drowning.
Police say Hawn was not wearing a seat belt.
Police arrested 18-year-old Tyler Ross on charges of reckless homicide, a Class C felony, and operating a motor vehicle without ever having received a license, a Class C misdemeanor. His bond has been set at 10,500 dollars. Ross is expected to appear before a judge next week.
According to the findings of the Sheriff's Department investigators' traffic accident investigation, excessive speed and reckless driving were key contributing factors in the accident.
Indiana Conservation Officer Detectives and Jackson County Sheriff's Department Detectives also corroborated this information through interviews with Ross, and the other male in the vehicle.
Ross told police he was behind the wheel when the Mitsubishi two-door car he and two other teens were in flipped into the East Fork White River northeast of the Shieldstown Covered Bridge.
Ross and a 19-year-old man escaped through broken windows after the crash. Hawn, of Seymour, was found dead inside the car after it was towed from the water. She was just days from her 17th birthday.
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