A McCulloch County grand jury returned indictments on two second-degree felony charges on Tuesday for 37-year-old Jason Allen Pepperdine, accused of crashing his truck while drunk driving and leaving his severely injured female passenger on the side of the road to die.
The indictments come just over one month and two weeks after the New Year’s Eve crash 10 miles east of Brady that claimed 22-year-old Grape Creek native Jaclyn Proctor’s life.
Pepperdine, who was picked up by a DPS Trooper at his trailer home in Rochelle after the accident, was initially charged with DWI.
As the investigation continued both at Pepperdine’s residence and at the scene of the crash, his bloody clothes and the body of the young mother were discovered, ultimately resulting in the charge being changed to intoxication manslaughter, a second-degree felony.
Pepperdine confessed to driving and crashing while intoxicated the following day in a jailhouse interview with Texas Ranger Joel Timms and Sgt. Jones, and after nine days of further investigation, Timms traveled to the Burnet County Jail to present Pepperdine with two additional arrest affidavits.
On Jan. 15, Pepperdine was officially charged with one count of failing to render aid in an accident involving death and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, both second-degree felonies.
The grand jury in McCulloch County indicted Pepperdine on both of those charges on Tuesday; the intoxication manslaughter charge is still pending results from blood draws.
Neither 25-year-old Derek Cox nor 24-year-old Joseph Palacio, both of whom witnessed the crash and followed Pepperdine away from the scene where Proctor lie, have been charged with anything.
As of yet, no trial date has been set.
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