WILLIAMSBURG, Ky. (LEX 18) — A Whitley County grand jury will take up the case of a man and woman accused in connection with the death of a 2-year-old in a crash last week.
Matthew Croley and Jayna Vorwerk are facing multiple charges in connection to the crash.
“It was a tragedy,” said Trooper Scottie Pennington, Public Affairs Officer for KSP Post 11. “You had a family that got hit, a mother that was airlifted to the University of Tennessee with a lot of injuries, three children that were taken to Corbin hospital, and you had a small child, a 2-year-old child that’s got brothers and sisters and got a mother, that didn’t make it."
Investigators say the crash was due to DUI. Investigators say Vorwerk and Croley admitted to driving the vehicle, but through the investigation, police determined Croley was behind the wheel.
“We have charged the male,” Pennington said. “He kind of owned up to it, and due to evidence that we gathered at the scene and in the vehicle, we believe that he was driving.”
Croley pleaded guilty to a DUI back in September of 2023.
The case was waived to the grand jury. The next scheduled court date is March 13 at 11 a.m. in Williamsburg.
Trooper Pennington told LEX 18 there's no excuse for getting behind the wheel when someone is impaired.
“This is 2024. You can get ahold of a cab, you can get ahold of an Uber. If you’re not able to drive, there’s ways you can get home. Call a friend, call a family member, call the police. We’ll make sure you get home safely. It’s such preventable. These people probably didn’t mean to hurt anybody, but their actions and being irresponsible caused this fatality," said Pennington.
