Charge filed in connection with pickup truck death

GREENVILLE, Mo. -- A Piedmont, Missouri, man is set to appear in a Wayne County court next month after being charged in connection with an accident that left one of his passengers dead.

Dakota Lee Carter, 24, was charged with leaving the scene of a motor-vehicle accident Sunday that resulted in the death of Jacob C. Waller, 19, of Piedmont.

About 5:10 a.m. Sunday, Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper John West was contacted about a body in the road on Highway 34, south of Route V.

"Upon my arrival, I noticed a young man lying in a pool of blood, [who] was deceased," West said in a probable-cause statement. "I noticed the subject had road rash all over his body."

Waller, who is believed to have fallen from the bed of Carter's northbound 2002 Chevrolet pickup, was pronounced dead at the scene by Wayne County Coroner Gary Umfleet. An autopsy was performed Monday morning at Mineral Area Regional Medical Center in Farmington, Missouri.

"The preliminary cause of death is traumatic head injury," said Umfleet, who expects to receive a final autopsy report in about six weeks.

During the course of the investigation, West said, he learned Waller had been riding in the unenclosed bed of the pickup, which had left a party off Route KK at about 4:30 a.m.

West said he and Sgt. Mike Carson interviewed the truck's four other passengers -- Courtney Masek, Kaite Babcock, Johnnie Provance and Roger D. Hamilton, all of Piedmont, as well as Carter, who was driving. All of them confirmed that Carter gave Waller a ride from the party.

At one point, Waller appeared to be sleeping in the truck bed, but had disappeared by the time the group was entering Piedmont, West said. He was told the group didn't "think anything about it" and figured Waller had bailed out.