Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Hit and run leaves one dead; trucker arrested in Missouri

A hit and run fatality occurred Saturday, Nov. 15, at exit 44 on Interstate 30 east.

According to a release from the Prescott Police Department, the Nevada County Sheriff's Office received a call concerning a body on the road next to the exit.

When officers arrived, they found the body of a white female, later identified as Melissa Patterson, 25, of Prescott. Patterson was a resident of the Split Rail.

She had apparently been struck by a vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene by the Nevada County Coroner.

A witness later gave officers the description of a tractor-trailer rig he had seen shortly after the body had been struck. The witness talked to the driver, and saw what he believed to be evidence of the accident, according to Prescott Police Chief Sam Reeder.

After getting this information, officers were unable to locate the truck. However, the truck was later found at a truck stop in St. Marys, Mo. The Arkansas State Police contacted the Missouri Highway Patrol, with MHP officers taking the driver into custody.

The MHP, Reeder said, is doing the follow-up investigation of the driver and his rig. An affidavit for a warrant of the driver's arrest has been issued for leaving the scene of a fatality accident.

The investigation is pending, with the victim's body having been sent to the medical examiner's office for an autopsy.

Agencies involved in the investigation are: PPD, NCSO, ASP and MHP.