Deer Blood Dosen't Fool The Cops; Lindsay Pinegar Charged In Fatal Hit-And-Run

**Dakota Valkyrie** · November 30th, 2010, 11:29 AM

After a year’s investigation, a Terre Haute woman has been arrested in the hit-and-run death of an Otter Creek Middle School student.

Lindsay M. Pinegar, 20, of Terre Haute, appeared with her defense attorney in Vigo Superior Court 1 on Monday, where she was charged with failure to stop after an accident resulting in death, a class-C felony.

Nathaniel Gene Maxwell Lawson, 13, was struck on the evening of Oct. 9, 2009 by a Hyundai Sante Fe as he walked along Park Avenue near Smith Street in North Terre Haute.

The young Lawson was with his brother and another boy walking on the road on their way to a convenience store on that rainy evening when the vehicle hit the Otter Creek student, throwing him several feet from the road.

The suspect vehicle fled westbound and turned south on Fruitridge Avenue.

He died that evening of internal injuries. He was taken to Union Hospital and then transferred to Methodist Hospital.
[...]

Prosecutor Terry Modesitt said the investigation shows that other people knew about Pinegar’s involvement in the incident and might have helped her conceal her involvement.

However, no other warrants were issued Monday in the case.

Detective John Childs, who has investigated the incident for more than a year, tried to track down the suspect by using vehicle debris left at the collision scene. At the time, Childs received an anonymous tip indicating that a silver Sante Fe with front end damage had been observed in the Rockville area, and the detective located the vehicle and talked to Pinegar about the damage.

Childs reported that Pinegar’s vehicle appeared to have been in a collision with a deer, based on the blood and hair in the damaged area. And, he reported that Pinegar told him she hit a deer while driving in Fountain County.

However, a court document filed last week states that Pinegar told her mother about the accident and alleges that the mother took the 2004 Sante Fe to her ex-husband, who “took deer hair and blood and rubbed it into the damaged part of the vehicle to make it look like a car/deer accident.”
[...]

On Monday, Nate Lawson’s aunt Tonya Sharp told the Tribune-Star that the teen’s family is trying to find some closure now that an arrest has been made. But she said they are having a hard time dealing with the concealment of the crime.

“You do what you can to protect your kids,” Sharp said, “but how do you justify that?”

http://tribstar.com/news/x862973338/...ar-old-s-death

If Pinegar is convicted, she could face up to eight years in prison.

"This was the appropriate charge," Vigo County Prosecutor Terry Modesitt said. "The investigators are going to continue and we've got some other things to do in the case as that develops it could change."
[...]

Lindsay Pinegar bonded out of jail on a $35,000 cash only bond late Monday afternoon.

http://www.wthitv.com/dpp/news/local...an-Lawson-Case

**penelopejo** · November 30th, 2010, 11:33 AM

I'm wondering why she just didn't wash the car to get rid of the blood and hair. She had the time to take it to her dad to do all that, but not wash it?

**Dakota Valkyrie** · November 30th, 2010, 11:36 AM

She needed the deer blood/hair to "verify" her story. She probably washed off the little boy blood/hair first.

It may have been an accident originally but she made it into something worse. Might not have had any charges if she had not run.

**Proud wife** · November 30th, 2010, 11:37 AM

I would do a lot for my kids. Hell, I'd go to the end of the world & back for them, but I NEVER cover up a crime for them. I'd throw my own grandma under the bus if ment keeping my ass out of jail. Besides that, didn't people wonder about this kid? Didn't they think about this kids family?

**penelopejo** · November 30th, 2010, 11:43 AM

I get verifying her story, but even then, had she washed it off, she could've lied and said "I washed it off cause it was gross."

And, maybe she was drunk? But it may have been the rain too. And you're right, all she would've had was her insurance premium go up if she wasn't under the influence of anything.

It was my morbid thinking that if you're gonna do a hit and run, why go as far as getting deer blood and hair when you could just wash it off and lie about it.

**Dakota Valkyrie** · November 30th, 2010, 11:59 AM

I would leave it in hopes of fooling the cops into not looking deeper into my excuse. If there was no hair/blood they might look harder at it to verify the story. The presence of it at least looks like she is being truthful. Obviously, she didn't fool anyone for long.

**Dakota Valkyrie** · December 9th, 2010, 09:15 AM

Pinegar’s former stepdad arrested.

The defense attorney for a Veedersburg man accused of covering up a 2009 hit-and-run fatality in Vigo County has asked for his client’s case to be transferred to Fountain County where the alleged obstruction of justice is to have occurred.

James R. Carrier Jr., 42, appeared in Vigo Superior Court 1 on Wednesday accompanied by his attorney, Lucas White, who also requested that Carrier’s bail of $20,000 cash be reduced to allow only 10 percent cash to be posted.

Judge Michael Eldred denied the bail reduction, but delayed a decision on the case’s transfer.

Those two requests received adamant opposition from the family of 13-year-old Nathaniel Lawson, who died after being struck by a vehicle allegedly driven by Carrier’s former stepdaughter.

“This man covered up his daughter killing my son,” Dana Lawson told Eldred at the court hearing. “He doesn’t deserve to be out of jail!”
[...]

Following the hearing, Deputy Prosecutor Carroll Smeltzer pointed out to Lawson’s family that the bail amount follows the local guidelines for a class-D felony allegation.

Smeltzer told the judge, however, that Carrier has a criminal history in Illinois that includes convictions for burglary, unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, trespassing, illegal hunting and theft.

Carrier also told Eldred that he violated his Illinois probation by cutting off his electronic monitoring device.

Carrier told Eldred he has lived in Veedersburg with his wife, son and mother-in-law for three to four years, and before that lived in Covington. The defendant also stated that he is unemployed and receives disability assistance. The defendant is divorced from Lindsay Pinegar’s mother, who lived in Rockville at the time of the accident, but who has since relocated to Tennessee.

Carrier’s alleged obstruction of justice occurred, according to a probable cause affidavit, after Lindsay Pinegar drove her damaged vehicle to her mother’s home in Rockville.

The mother then allegedly took the vehicle to Carrier in Fountain County. When police later questioned Pinegar about the damage to her vehicle, she told police she had hit a deer in Fountain County.

Because of that information, police report that the vehicle and driver were ruled out as suspects shortly after the accident.

But a recent statement of the alleged facts made by Pinegar’s mother to some co-workers in Tennessee was reported to police, prompting a re-examination of Pinegar as a suspect.
[...]

Meanwhile, Pinegar’s mother may not be prosecuted for her alleged involvement in the coverup.

Sheriff Jon Marvel told the Tribune-Star that she cooperated with his investigators to lead to the arrests in the case.

“She is a little culpable,” Marvel said, “but would the case have been solved if she hadn’t come forward?”

http://tribstar.com/news/x1894468985...d-with-coverup

**MsLeslieann** · November 27th, 2011, 08:22 PM

i working with this Lindsay b*tch i dont believe an 8 year max is enough.

**Whisper** · November 27th, 2011, 08:34 PM

Wow Im just trying to grasp what this freak of nature has done!

**Gidget** · November 27th, 2011, 09:06 PM

Originally Posted by penelopejo

It was my morbid thinking that if you're gonna do a hit and run, why go as far as getting deer blood and hair when you could just wash it off and lie about it.

Because the front end damage on her car made it clear she'd hit something. They must have thought putting deer blood and hair on the front of her car would make the cops believe that it was a deer that she'd hit instead of a kid.

**Dakota Valkyrie** · November 27th, 2011, 09:24 PM

A Terre Haute woman has pleaded guilty in a 2009 hit-and-run fatality that took the life of an Otter Creek Middle School student.

Lindsay Pinegar, 21, faces two to eight years in prison when she appears for sentencing Dec. 22 in Vigo Superior Court 1.
[...]

Emotional family members spoke to news media following Monday’s hearing.

“She pled guilty to a maximum possible penalty of eight years, which is not enough,” said Lawson’s mother Dana Lawson. “Once again, she’s free to spend the holidays with her family, and my baby’s in a box. There’ll be some justice for Lindsay Pinegar, but there’ll ever be a life for Nathan.”

Patty Jones, the boy’s maternal grandmother, said she has mixed feelings about the guilty plea.

“It’s possible she [Pinegar] could get probation,” Jones said. “That’s a terrifying thought.”

Jones said she has followed the criminal cases against Pinegar’s alleged co-conspirators in the case -- her mother, Michelle Pinegar, and former stepfather, James Carrier.

Carrier was arrested Dec. 7, 2010, on a charge of obstruction of justice after he smeared deer blood and fur on Pinegar’s damaged Hyundai Santa Fe to make it look like Pinegar had struck a deer with her auto. Carrier was arrested and charged in Vigo County, but his case was transferred to Fountain County because his actions occurred at his Veedersburg home. He pleaded guilty in April to the class-D felony charge and was sentenced to two years on in-home detention.

Michelle Pingar was also charged with obstruction of justice in Fountain County this past April. She pleaded guilty in August to a misdemeanor, and was fined $1,000 and court costs.

http://tribstar.com/news/x67373165/D...hooler-s-death

**Whisper** · November 27th, 2011, 09:45 PM

Really who even thinks like this let alone 2 and 3 in one family??
Reminds me of the case where the broad hit the homeless man and he was stuck in her windshield slowly dying for days
She would open the garage and peek in to see if he was dead yet

**4Cats** · November 28th, 2011, 12:17 AM

Reminds me of the case where the broad hit the homeless man and he was stuck in her windshield slowly dying for days
She would open the garage and peek in to see if he was dead yet

For real? I always thought that was an urban legend