Search after Holly Springs fatal crash finds flask in one vehicle, pills in other
A crash investigator working on a two-car wreck that killed a New Hill woman early Sunday in Holly Springs found an empty flask in one of the vehicles and a variety of pills in the other, according to search warrants returned to court Wednesday.
Laura Jane Holt, 40, of 9240 Barker Road was partially thrown from her 2005 Chevrolet pickup and was pinned under it when it rolled over after the crash at N.C. 55 and West Holly Springs Road at about 2:15 a.m., police said.
Dawn Woody Cranford, 46, of Cary, who was riding with Holt, and the driver of the other vehicle, Karen Frances Bender, 49, of 101 Ontario Place in Holly Springs, were taken to WakeMed Hospital in Raleigh.
Bender’s 2015 Jeep and Holt’s northbound Silverado collided when Bender was turning left from southbound N.C. 55 into West West Holly Springs Road, an accident report said.
A Holly Springs police accident investigator, Detective M.A. Ham, asked Tuesday for court permission to search both vehicles.
In the Jeep, Ham found “one silver Jameson flask containing alcohol residue,” according to one of the search warrants returned to the court clerk’s office.
In the pickup, the other warrant said, Ham found four differently marked kinds of pills for a total a total of 16½ pills. Two kinds of pills were in a pillbox, Ham said. The drugs were not identified by name.
The accident report said officers at the scene suspected both drivers might have been impaired and ordered tests of their blood.
Holt’s truck spun 180 degrees when the collision happened, then slid sideways into a light pole and rolled over, the report said.
Bender’s Jeep spun 180 degrees and stopped in the northbound lanes of N.C. 55, it said.
The report said Cranford and Bender were wearing seat belts. It said officers did not know if Holt was.
This story was originally published March 24, 2016 at 10:40 AM with the headline "Search after Holly Springs fatal crash finds flask in one vehicle, pills in other."