Eyewitness Account
Discrepancies in statements regarding the hit and run of Deidre Week.
3/24/95 Statement by Jim Vruwink to Swayze.
***He noticed a car northbound on CTH HH hit an unknown object. He saw what appeared to be dust and debris flying in the air and wasn’t sure of what the vehicle truck until he got closer.
As soon as he noticed a person on a bicycle was struck, he decided to turn around and pursue the striking car.
Jim said the car was intermediate in size. He thought it was a four for, possibly maroon or burgundy in color.
Jim stated that he works on cars often so he feels that he can identify cars fairly well. He stated that if he had to guess what kind of car it was he would guess a Chevrolet Celebrity.
He felt pretty confident in this guess. He stated that it was mainly due to the taillights that he observed. He felt that the taillights he observed would belong to a Chevrolet Celebrity.
He stated that by the time he got turned around, he had difficulty attempting to catch up to the striking vehicle. He never did close enough to see the plate number.
He followed the vehicle as best as he could and when he came up to the 4600 block of CTH HH, he started beeping his horn because he remembered seeing several kids in the area playing near the road.
Jim stated that he lost the vehicle near the curve on Tenpas Road. He stated that there was the possibility that the vehicle turned to go east on Tenpas Road.
*** Pages 64 & 65 in the Dropbox link.
3/24/95 Statement by Jim Vruwink to Reichert.
***As he was heading south of CTH HH, he had seen what he believed to be an accident. He did see reflectors of a bicycle and somewhat of a cloud of dust go up in the air. It was at this point that he identified what he believed to be the striking vehicle. He believed it was a two-tone General Motors product, possibly a Celebrity – rather light in color.
Jim Vruwink told me that he turned around in an adjacent driveway and had taken off after the vehicle. He told me that prior to turning around, he had beeped his horn several times in order to try and summon help for the individual who was injured in the ditch. Jim Vruwink told me that at the time this case began he was driving a Plymouth Horizon…
He also stated to me that he believed there were maybe two people in the vehicle who had hit Deidre. He stated that the vehicle originally had its headlights on; however, it then did turn them off.
Jim Vruwink stated to me that he had chased this vehicle along CTH HH. He stated that as he went down certain areas of CTH HH in which he knew there were children playing, he would beep his horn in order to alert the people that the vehicles were traveling fast down the road.
In the are of CTH HH and Tenpas Road, Jim Vruwink told me that he has seen taillights of a vehicle some distance down the road. He was uncertain as to whether or not this was the vehicle that he was chasing as he was unable to gain ground on the striking vehicle.
Jim Vruwink proceeded north on CTH HH to the area of Green Elm Road in which he turned around, returned to his own residence at 7656 CTH HH, and called Wood County Sheriff’s Department.
*** Pages 74 & 75 in the Dropbox link.
3/24/95 Statement by Jim Vruwink to Starks.
***Jim Vruwink stated that on this date between 6:30 and 6:40, he was traveling south on CTH HH and he has seen a young girl riding her bicycle northbound on CTH HH. He stated that behind her came a vehicle with no headlights in operation.
He states that he believed that the young girl had noticed the vehicle. He remembers her turning her head to look back at it and them moving off to the edge strip of the road. James Vruwink states that as the vehicle approached the bicycle, it did not seem to move from its path. It did strike the bicycle and the young lady riding it, throwing her from the bicycle into the ditch.
James Vruwink states that after the striking the bicycle, the operator of the vehicle did not stop but instead did speed up and fled the scene.
James Vruwink briefly stopped at the scene, did see that the young girl was laying in the ditch, turned and pursued the vehicle.
He initially described the vehicle as a four-door GM Product, possibly a Chevrolet. Possibly a cavalier or something of a similar body style. He initially believed it was a two-tone vehicle, dark in color on top and possibly silver or gray at the bottom.
He states that he did chase the vehicle in his car northbound on CTH HH but was unable to catch up to the vehicle. He doesn’t believe that at any time during this period that the vehicle turned on its headlights.
*** Page 76 in the Dropbox link.
4/13/95 Statement by Jim Vruwink to Reichert.
*** He (James Vruwink) stated that the vehicle that struck Deidre veered into this lane of traffic approximately 75 feet away from him. It then veered back and struck Deidre and “took off.”
He stated that the car also had swerved or veered after it had hit Deidre.
James Vruwink again stated to e that he believed there were two people in the car who had hit the young girl. He could not, however, tell whether or not they were male or female.
… James Vruwink believed it (the bicycle) would have been right in the area of the white line on the edge of the road or possibly maybe even onto the gravel portion of the road, or she would have been riding on the gravel portion of the road when she was hit.
… He told me that it was approximately five to ten seconds between the time when had observed the vehicle being hit to when he began pulling into the driveway to turn around. He stated that when he was in the driveway, he sat for a short period of time- possibly three to four seconds – and blew his horn to try and summon help. Jim emphatically states that he did see people coming out of the house when he began to turn his vehicle around.
Jim stated to me that he did not recall seeing David Week in his truck as he passed his home .
… He stated that he had blown his horn to try and alert people as to the high rate of speed he was traveling while he was going down CTH HH. He again stated that he did see taillights on Tenpas Road however he wasn’t certain as to whether or not that would have been the vehicle that struck Deidre.
He again stated that the vehicle turned its headlights off when it was in the chase portion of the incident.
Jim again told me that he had gone to Green Elm Road turned around, went to his house, and called the Wood County Sheriff’s Department.
*** Pages 93 & 94 in the Dropbox link.
On 03/24/95, Deidre was struck and killed in front of Lorrie Griffith's house. Lorrie was home and had called a friend at around 6:30 p.m. During this call, she walked freely around her home because she was using a cordless phone and, a few minutes into the conversation, Lorrie heard a "thud." She recalls telling her friend that it sounded like someone had hit her house. Shortly after hearing this noise, Lorrie was made aware that something HAD happened in front of her home, and she went outside.
The sole witness, Jim Vruwink, stated several times that he pulled into Lorrie's driveway, honked his horn repeatedly in an attempt to summon help, then turned around in the driveway and began pursuing the striking vehicle. He also told investigators that he saw people coming out of Lorrie's house.
Lorrie has consistently stated that she never heard the honking of a car horn. She was the only person at her home at the time.
Pages 91, 100, 185-189 in the Dropbox Link.
4/11/95 David Week Statement - He then stated that at Deidre's wake, Jim Vruwink had come to him and stated "You must have been in the truck leaving your driveway."
David Week stated "yes" and Jim responded "I was the second car chasing the vehicle that struck Deidre on the bike."
Davids Statement begins at page 86 in DropBox.
