(The following story by George A. Chidi appeared on the Rocky Mount Telegram website on December 29.)
Authorities have as many questions as answers about the Christmas night crash of an Amtrak train into a car in the crossing on Fountain Road, which killed two passengers and the driver.
For one, they haven’t found the families of the three dead yet.
“One person, we have no idea who she is. The other two have IDs but we haven’t made contact with their families,” said N.C. Highway Patrol Trooper Timothy Pope.
“Right now, nobody is answering any phones, and nobody’s coming to the doors. … One (address) has been vacant, one’s been padlocked and the neighbors don’t know any of them,” he said.
Police identified the survivor, Nadine Crandall, 23, of Rocky Mount, after contacting her family. Crandall spent her birthday Monday in critical condition at Pitt County Memorial Hospital.
Her family has since instructed the hospital not to release information to the public and could not be reached for comment.
The Highway Patrol also confirmed the identity of the driver after a reporter’s inquiry El Juan Halley, 33.
Probation officers in Alamance County learned that Halley had been in the crash Tuesday morning, officers said. Halley was on parole for receiving a stolen vehicle, but is listed as a parole violator on the N.C. Department of Correction offender data Web site.
Highway Patrol officers say the 2005 Dodge Magnum was rented from an Alamo car rental, but not by Halley or any of the passengers. The car has not been reported as stolen and police have yet to contact the person who rented it, Pope said. No drugs or alcohol were found in the car, and a toxicology report is pending on the victims, Pope said.
To add to the confusion, an ID was found in the car, but it belongs neither to the person who rented it nor to anyone else in the car, Pope said.
Police continue to withhold the identities of the other two passengers until their families can be notified, Pope said. Both are female; one is from Florida and the other is from somewhere in North Carolina, he said. Multiple addresses for the victims have made the investigation difficult, and Pope’s early attempts to find them have been met by empty buildings, he said.
“I’m probably going to have to go by utilities and look for a forwarding address, since the house is padlocked and vacant,” he said of one of the addresses checked. “It’s one of those things where we’re just trying to piece it together as you go.”
Pope has gone through the wreckage of the car, looking for restaurant receipts, return addresses on old mail and anything else that might be a clue, he said.
Police have also begun to doubt a witnesses earlier assertion that the car swerved around the downed crossbar of the train crossing as well as a line of waiting cars before being struck, Pope said.
The Amtrak Silver Meteor train, traveling south to Florida, went through the crossing at 11:16 p.m. Saturday and collided with the vehicle. Initially, a witness said the car was crossing the tracks heading west into Nash County, but the train engineer and evidence from the wreck indicate the car was struck on the driver’s side, which would mean it was driving into Edgecombe County, he said.