Investigators hope a sketch released Friday will help identify the man accused of causing a wreck that killed three people after he led police on a 10-mile chase.
The sketch, compiled by a GBI artist, shows the clean-shaven face of the man accused of stealing a Chevrolet Suburban limousine from the Westin Hotel in College Park shortly after 9 a.m. Sunday. When officers pursued the Suburban, the suspect refused to stop, and led officers on a high-speed chase.
At South Gordon Street and Rogers Avenue in southwest Atlanta, the man ignored a stop and plowed into a Buick LaSabre being driven by 75-year-old Dorothy Smith Wright, according to police. Wright and her grandchildren had just left her home and were headed to church, her family said.
The man driving the Suburban was able to run from the crash scene. As of Friday afternoon, he had not been identified or located.
Wright and her grandson, 12-year-old Cameron Costner, died at the scene of the wreck. The impact was strong enough to tip the Buick onto its side, investigators said. About 11 hours later, Cameron’s sister was found in shrubbery. Layla Partridge, 6, had been thrown so far from the Buick that crash investigators initially didn’t see her. Police returned to the scene late Sunday and found the girl.
In a meeting Tuesday with reporters, Wright's daughter urged the person responsible to surrender.
“I just want them to know that they wiped my whole bloodline from me,” Joi Partridge said. “They wiped my mom, and my only two kids. I can’t see them graduate, I can’t see them be married, I can’t see them have kids, I can’t be a grandmother. And it’s just overwhelming.”
Visitation for Wright, of Atlanta, and Cameron and Layla, both of Fayetteville, was held Friday at Willie Watkins Funeral Home, West End Chapel. The funeral for the three will be Saturday at 11 a.m. at St. Philip AME Church in Atlanta.
College Park police and Crime Stoppers Atlanta have offered a $10,000 reward to help find the man who caused the crash.
Anyone with information on the case can submit it anonymously to the Crime Stoppers Atlanta tip line at 404-577-TIPS (8477), online http://www.crimestoppersatlanta.org or by texting CSA and the tip to CRIMES (274637).
About the Author
