The Cass County Coroner's office has made a positive identification of the driver involved in a fatal motor vehicle accident that happened Sunday, July 6, on US 24 outside of Logansport.
According to a press release from Cass County Coroner George Franklin Jr, DNA samples were obtained from the deceased and a family and was positively identified as Walter Javier Zepeda-Hernandez, 27, of Peru.
According to the Cass County Sheriff's Office, dispatch received a call just after midnight on July 6 about a crash involving two vehicles near County Road 700 E and US 24. An initial scene assessment determined Lillian Shepherd, 24, of Peru was traveling eastbound in a 2002 Jeep Liberty on US 24 when her vehicle was struck head-on by a 2003 Toyota Echo, driven by Zepeda-Hernandez, who was traveling westbound in the wrong traffic lane.
Both vehicles burst into flames and had to be extinguished by firefighters. Shepherd was able to escape from the Jeep. Due to her severe injuries she was eventually flown from the scene to Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne. Zepeda-Hernandez was pronounced dead at the scene and was not immediately able to be positively identified due to his injuries sustained from the crash and fire.
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