A vehicle grille left behind where a 71-year-old woman was struck and killed led Vidor police to an arrest for the hit-and-run on Thursday. Detective James Blankenship said he found the grille and tracked it to an older modern Saturn Vue.
Vidor investigtors then looked for that model with a missing grille. They found one at a mobile home park off Osteen Street a few days after the collision that killed Wanda Spoonmore. She died after being hit in the 1700 block of Highway 12 the night of October 13. She had been crossing the highway with a granddaughter after attending a Halloween event, the Maze of Terror.
Thursday, 49-year-old William Kevin McClure was arrested for felony failure to stop and render aid in an accident causing death.
Detective Blankenship outlined the case against McClure during the affidavit of probable cause filed in the office of Justice of the Peace Herschel Stagner.
Blankenship said when he found the Vue on October 17, it had right front damage “that would be consistent with an auto pedestrian crash.” He also noticed damage to the hood and roof. One dent “had a distinct hand print in the middle of it.” He could also see dark droplets of what looked like dired blood.
He said the owner of the SUV was not home and a neighbor called the woman. On the phone, the woman told Blankenship her son had the SUV during the day of Spoonmore’s death and he returned the vehicle damaged. She at first was cooperating, but then never came to the mobile home park.
According to the affidavit, police got a search warrant for the SUV and took evidence. Blankenship said the woman’s son voluntarily came to the police station for an interview that night. He said he was a passenger in the vehicle and his mother’s husband had, McClure, had been driving.
The son told police her heard a “boom and felt the vehicle rock.” He said McClure leaned forward toward the steering wheel and said he wasn’t going to stop.
Detective Blankenship said McClure in interviews with police denied driving. He then came and voluntarily took a polygraph test on October 26.
The detective said after the polygraph McClure admitted to him that he had been driving and he didn’t stop because he was scared. After hitting Spoonmore, he drove back to his residence.
-Margaret Toal, KOGT-
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