Whitmarsh booked in Eagle 久久热精品视频app; new details allege intoxication, another conspirator in hit and run case
Sidney Whitmarsh was taken into custody in Eagle 久久热精品视频app Friday following her March arrest in Arkansas; Whitmarsh left Colorado after allegedly killing Mario Vildozola Romero of Edwards in a January hit-and-run crime.
The 24-year-old Edwards resident appeared via video before Judge Cynthia Jones on Friday and was advised of the charges against her, which include vehicular homicide, failure to remain at the scene of a crash resulting in death, tampering with physical evidence and failure to notify the police of a traffic accident resulting in death.
A bond of $250,000 for Whitmarsh was set.
Whitmarsh was arrested in Arkansas in March after a two-month-long investigation, in which the Colorado State Patrol says they have obtained probable cause to allege that Whitmarsh hit Romero, a bicyclist, during the early morning hours of Jan. 7.
On Monday, Eagle 久久热精品视频app residents Jaime Ledezma and Stephanie Whitmarsh were arrested in connection to the case, as well. Stephanie Whitmarsh is the mother of Sidney Whitmarsh. Ledezma and Stephanie Whitmarsh both posted bond and were released April 30; Ledezma’s bond has been set for $25,000 and Stephanie Whitmarsh’s bond is $10,000.
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Another alleged conspirator
In an arrest affidavit for Ledezma and Stephanie Whitmarsh, Colorado State Patrol investigator Colin Remillard said he believes there is also probable cause to show that Sidney Whitmarsh’s father Cean Whitmarsh committed the offenses of accessory to crime, conspiracy to commit tampering with physical evidence and conspiracy to commit concealing death.
Remillard said the evidence on Whitmarsh’s car suggests Romero was most likely the victim of a “wrap” style crash, in which the victim contacts the hood and/or windshield.
For Romero’s body to be located where it was 鈥� 21 feet off the north side of Highway 6 in Edwards at mile marker 165.9 鈥� he would have had to have been impacted by a “forward projection” type of crash.
“We know that this did not occur in this case because Ms. Whitmarsh’s vehicle had damage below its hood line, then a dent on the hood and a broker passenger side windshield,” Remillard said. “It also had damage on the side of the vehicle from the bike.”
In addition to his on-scene observations, Remillard had also interviewed an informant who said they heard people discussing the accident at a local restaurant.
“The informant specifically stated that they removed the bumper of the vehicle,” said Remillard, who had seized Whitmarsh’s vehicle in January. “When I seized Ms. Whitmarsh’s vehicle it had the bumper inside of it.”
The informant also said they heard Whitmarsh had removed the bicycle Romero was riding from the scene, and that Romero’s body was moved.
Text message trail
Remillard obtained Whitmarsh’s phone in April where he found text messages as further evidence of crime-scene tampering.
“In Ms. Whitmarsh’s text messages, she states that Mr. Ledezma responded to the crash scene, saw Mr. Romero’s body, and removed the bike,” Remillard said in the affidavit. “Her messages also state that she did not want anyone at the scene besides ‘me and Jaime.’ Therefore, there is probable cause to believe that Mr. Ledezma also moved Mr. Romero’s body.”
Remillard said there were also text messages between Sidney and Cean Whitmarsh in which Sidney informs Cean that Ledezma “saw someone lying in the snow” during the early morning hours of Jan. 7. There are also messages between Sidney and Stephanie Whitmarsh in which Stephanie suggests she’s going to visit the crime scene and Sidney cautions against that action.
“Idk if you should momma鈥� I don’t want you to leave evidence that anyone was there beside me and Jaime,” Sidney Whitmarsh texted her mother.
“You don’t worry about that,” her mother responded. “I have a good plan. Just trust me 鈥� Jaime is driving by there in a bit but not stopping to see if there is any remnants of footsteps from the road.”
Remillard said all of that shows that Ledezma, along with Whitmarsh’s parents, were aware of the crash and Romero’s death.
“They then all made substantial steps to conceal the death and aid Ms. Whitmarsh in avoiding identification and her flight to avoid prosecution,” Remillard said.
Remillard said through a series of texts in a group chat, “Ms. Whitmarsh arranged for her mother to drive her to a Costco in Wichita, Kansas, where her father picked her up and drove her to where she was located in Arkansas.”
‘Please stop drinking’
Text messages in Whitmarsh’s phone shared in the affidavit also point to intoxication on her part, starting the afternoon of Jan. 6.
In a text from 6:20 p.m., Whitmarsh is quoted in the affidavit as saying, in a text message, “very intoxicated but I will be ok.”
At 6:54 p.m., she then texts that she is driving, and at 6:57 p.m., when asked if she has been drinking, she responds “clearly.”
The text exchange continues, and “During that exchange, Ms. Whitmarsh appears to be having difficulty texting,” Remillard said in the affidavit. “She has numerous misspellings and corrections along with some incoherent statements.”
As the text exchange continues, “Ms. Whitmarsh again appears to have trouble texting correctly to the point that (the respondent) states ‘Literally don’t understand anything,'” Remillard said. “He then tells her to ‘please stop drinking,’ and to be safe,” Remillard said. “At 10:51:31 p.m., Ms. Whitmarsh states, ‘I’m too ducked up. I just wanna go home.'”
Whitmarsh’s next scheduled court appearance is an attorney conference on May 21.
