The vehicle knocked her to the ground twice, the man driving over her before accelerating away, leaving her crushed body behind. In the darkness of that Mount Magazine night, she crawled toward a light. She reached the window of Cabin No. 9, pulling herself up over its ledge. Maybe, just maybe, at that one moment, she would be seen. Then she fell back unconscious onto the cold concrete porch.
The stillness of that night, April 7, 2012, would quickly burst apart as help arrived in response to the call made from the cabin. The woman’s body was so bloody it was at first difficult to understand what had happened to her. — that is, until the trail her struggle left took law enforcement to the crime scene. Pools of her blood were punctuated with pieces of the glasses she had been wearing and the cell phone she had been holding. Her shoes were there, too, and they spoke loudly. When a person is struck by the force of a vehicle, it is not uncommon for them to be literally knocked out of their shoes.
A suspect was found, too, parked at the visitors’ center in a Chevrolet Silverado with extensive front-end damage. Despite his inebriation, the man was coherent enough to share his version of events: He and the woman had an argument. He got in his truck to leave, but she stood in front of it to stop him. Attempting to drive around her, he struck a cedar tree instead. True, the tree was a goner, but his story did not make for a move-on-down-road situation. Milton Webb, the husband of the woman being put on a Med Flight, was now the guest of law enforcement…