Police charge third person in fatal crash
Just days before the statute of limitations ran out, state police filed abuse of a corpse and related charges against a Fairchance man who allegedly helped his friends move the body of a 23-year-old girl after a car accident that claimed her life. Donald W. Miner Jr., 23, of 63 N. Main Street was also charged with obstructing the administration of law, tampering with evidence and three counts of criminal conspiracy in the April 24, 2005, death of Jessica Rankin.
Rankin was thrown from Christopher Meyokovich’s car in a 2:30 a.m. accident on a Georges Township road.
Meyokovich, 23, of Smithfield and David Keister, 23, of Uniontown were charged last year with putting her body back into the car and driving for another three miles before calling Meyokovich’s father for help. Meyokovich, as the alleged driver, faces the most serious charges.
State police Cpl. Joseph D’Andrea, who filed charges against Miner on Friday before Magisterial District Judge Wendy Dennis, alleged that cell phone records and Miner’s DNA in the car show he was with Meyokovich and Keister when the accident occurred.
During an interview Thursday at the Uniontown barracks, D’Andrea indicated that Miner admitted to being in the back seat of Meyokovich’s car.
An arrest affidavit alleged that Miner fled the scene before police arrived.
Court papers indicated that Miner’s left shoe and identification card were found in the car, and blood and an ATM receipt found in the car matched Miner’s DNA.
Cell phone records indicated that there was a call placed on Miner’s cell phone to his aunt, Phyllis Smith, at 2:42 and 2:44 a.m. Smith in turn made three calls between 2:54 a.m. and 3 a.m., according to the paperwork.
Smith made two additional calls to Meyokovich’s father’s home at 3:14 and 3:30 a.m., police alleged, and one to Meyokovich’s brother at 3:47 a.m.
“All of these calls were placed prior to any call to 911 or the police,” D’Andrea wrote. “The first call to 911 was at 3:54 a.m. on April 24, 2005.”
Meyokovich, as the alleged driver, faces 13 charges and five citations associated with the crash. Among the most serious are homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI), aggravated assault while DUI, homicide by vehicle and accidents involving death. All of those are felony charges. Police alleged his blood-alcohol content was .107 percent at the time of the crash and that he had marijuana in his system.
Pennsylvania drivers are considered legally intoxicated with an alcohol level of .08 percent or higher.
Both Meyokovich and Keister were charged with abuse of a corpse, obstruction of the law and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence and conspiracy to commit each.
D’Andrea, an accident reconstructionist, determined that the crash on Smithfield-Highhouse Road occurred when Meyokovich overcompensated as he came out of a curve in the road. The right front portion of his 2005 Chevrolet Cavalier hit a tree, police alleged, and the car rolled over. Rankin was thrown from the car when that happened, police charged.
At that point, police alleged that the men put Rankin’s body back into the car and drove off toward Meyokovich’s home.
Last year, Meyokovich and Keister, through their attorneys, moved to have the charges against them dismissed. Both claimed that prosecutors do not have sufficient evidence to prove they did anything criminal.
A judge has yet to rule on that motion.