Rochester man pleads guilty for OWI that led to deadly wreck in Kosciusko County

Thursday, March 28, 2024 at 1:14 AM

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A Rochester man accused of driving under the influence during a deadly wreck entered a guilty plea in a Kosciusko County Superior Courtroom.

Zachery Anderson, 23, pled guilty to a Level 4 felony of causing death while operating a vehicle with an ACE of .08 or more.

The charges stem from an accident in Kosciusko County on July 9, 2022. According to court documents, the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department responded to a single-vehicle accident outside of Beaver Dam Lake. The deputy on scene reported immediately noticing a damaged Cadillac SRX laying on its passenger side, and two people that had been ejected from the vehicle.

Court documents revealed that Alice M. Dills, 57, of Claypool, was pronounced dead at the scene. Anderson, who had also been injured during the wreck, was airlifted to a hospital.

During the plea hearing, Anderson's defense attorney stated that all memories of the accident are currently non-existent to Anderson, who had sustained brain injuries during the accident.

After two months of investigating, deputies determined that the vehicle's driver’s seat settings had excluded Dills as the vehicle’s driver. In-home video footage from Dills' security camera from July 8 and 9 showed the two leaving the residence hours before the crash, with Dills getting into the passenger side as Anderson sat in the drivers side. A certified chemical blood alcohol test given to Anderson revealed that his BAC was 0.177.

Anderson could face a six-year sentence, four years being the maximum executed time. A plea acceptance and sentencing is set for May 28.