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State Patrol fatality investigation continues

Conflicting stories are lengthening the Georgia State Patrol’s investigation into the weekend traffic death of a Grady County woman. Officers are trying to determine if the woman was alone in the car, exactly how she died, and when the accident happened.
“More and more rumors develop and hinders the investigation because we are obligated to look at it,” says Sgt. First Class Scott Woodell, post commander of the Georgia State Patrol office in Thomasville, “each one takes you in a different direction.”
Destin Jenkins, a 27-year-old Grady County woman whose address was on Capel Road, was killed in the one-car wreck. Early indications are that she bled to death from a compound fracture of her femur, Woodell says. However, an autopsy is being conducted by the GBI Crime Lab in Atlanta to confirm the cause of death. Her body was found about 25 feet from the wrecked 1996 Nissan Maxima, and Woodell says whether she was ejected or left the car on her own is still under investigation.
One rumor connected to the accidental death is that another person was in the car. “We have not ruled that there was a secondary person, and we have not ruled it out,” Woodell says, “we are still in the very beginnings of this investigation because of information and leads we have developed thus far.”
The accident was not discovered until around 7 a.m., Saturday, when a patrolling deputy with the Thomas County Sheriff’s Office spotted the Maxima sitting in an overgrown field less than a mile south of Oil Dri Corporation on Georgia Highway 3. The car would not have been seen during nighttime hours since it was obscured by the overgrowth.
Woodell says the Maxima’s front end apparently hit a ditch then vaulted and flipped in the air before it landed on its wheels in the field. The car’s windows were rolled down when it was found, and the doors were closed. He says the wreck happened sometime between 7 p.m. Friday and when it was discovered 12 hours later.
The GSP’s Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team will take control of the investigation and make the final determinations.

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