A five-day jury trial began Monday for Scott Wilkins, charged with causing a fatal accident and leaving the scene. Kosciusko County Deputy Prosecutor Karin McGrath said in her opening statement, “He left her,” speaking of Wilkins and victim Kami Ellis, 27, Nappanee. “He left her alone, to burn.” McGrath detailed the night of Dec. 26, 2014, when Wilkins, 37, of 136 N. Main St., Milford, left a bar in Nappanee with Ellis. Shortly after midnight, Wilkins crashed a 2007 Nissan 350Z into a yard on CR 1350N, Milford. Wilkins faces charges of causing death when operating a motor vehicle with a schedule I or II substance in his blood; failure to remain after an accident causing death; and reckless homicide. McGrath told the 12-person jury that Wilkins exited the burning car with Ellis still inside, and left the scene. He then allegedly returned to his apartment in Milford and a friend transported him to a hotel, where she helped clean his wounds. Vicki Simmons, 61, Milford, was arrested Dec. 27, 2014 for assisting Wilkins. McGrath said that Kosciusko County Sheriff’s deputies found Ellis’ body in the wreckage, after the owner of the field the car was in called 911. She was already dead by the time medics arrived. Wilkins’ attorney Mark Caruso then addressed the jury, saying that he and his client did not believe the story McGrath presented was true. Caruso said that after the crash, Wilkins had woken up in an irrigation ditch and remembered nothing of the accident. He also said that Wilkins did not remember how he got home or to the hotel. Caruso advised that Wilkins saw a deer in the roadway and attempted to swerve, explaining the skid marks officers observed near the crash. Six witnesses were brought in to testify Monday before Judge Joe Sutton in Kosciusko County Superior Court 3. The first witness was Rick Ellis, Kami’s father. Ellis confirmed that it was Kami who had died in the accident, and that he had seen her alive earlier that day. The next two witnesses were Arlen and Bera Lehman, both of West CR 1350N, Milford, who own the property where Wilkins crashed the car. Arlen told McGrath that he was asleep around midnight Dec. 26, 2014, when he and his wife were woken up by the sound of a crash and explosion. He said his entire house shook. He and his wife could see flames in their field from a window in their house, and could hear a male yelling somewhere outside. He said the screaming was upsetting to him. “It was not something I want to hear again … it was unreal,” he said. Arlen Lehman said he told his wife to lock the house behind him as he ran out to a shop on his property to call 911 at 12:10 a.m. When he exited his shop, he no longer heard the male voice. Police arrived within minutes, he said. Bera Lehman confirmed her husband’s testimony, saying that she and her family were asleep at the time of the crash. She said that while she was inside the house, she watched a figure run out from the field, pause, run back towards the flaming car, then run back out of the field and disappear. Neal Helmuth, a neighbor of the Lehman’s, was the fourth witness to testify. He told the court that he and his wife were woken up by the sound of the crash. He looked out a window and saw a figure running back and forth up CR 1350N, and could hear screams. The figure then promptly disappeared. Caruso asked Helmuth if the figure could have fallen into a ditch on the south side of the road, and Helmuth said it was possible that happened. The fifth witness was another resident of West CR 1350N, Tamara Bruner. She said that she was outside smoking a cigarette when she heard the explosion. Within minutes, she called 911 and went to the Lehmans’ property to help. She said she could hear a male voice yelling, but never saw anyone leave the scene. KCSD then arrived and she helped them search the area. KCSD deputy Michael Fowler was the final witness of the first day. An officer in Kosciusko County for six years, he said that he was driving home around midnight Dec. 26, 2014, when he received the call from dispatch about a car accident in Milford. He was the first officer to respond. He said that when he turned on CR 1350N off of Ind. 15, he could see the flames. When he arrived on scene with his lights and sirens on, he quickly approached the wreckage. The car was fully engulfed in flames, but he thought he could see a silhouette of a person in the passenger seat. Other officers had arrived by this point. While searching the area, someone had found a pair of grey men’s sneakers and a pink cowboy boot among the debris in the Lehman’s field. A second pink cowboy boot was later found inside the vehicle. A cellphone had also been found outside the vehicle. Fowler said that it was determined through the email application that the phone belonged to Scott Wilkins. The bumper of the Nissan had detached before the car caught on fire, with the license plate intact. The license plate was registered to Simmons. The trial ended at 5:30 p.m. Monday and began again at 9 a.m. today.
