Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - South Dakota TOP COP mows down, kills pedestrian & says, 'I thought it was a deer!'

Episode Date: September 18, 2020

An investigation is underway into how South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg struck and killed a man walking along a rural stretch of highway. Ravnsborg called 911 saying he thought he had hit a deer, driving home from a Republican fundraiser. The next morning it was discovered that it was a man. Joining Nancy Grace Today: James Shelnutt - 27 years Atlanta Metro Major Case detective, SWAT Officer (RET) Attorney www.shelnuttlawfirm.com  Dr. Angela Arnold - Psychiatrist, Atlanta Ga www.angelaarnoldmd.com Greg Smith - Special Deputy Sheriff, Johnson County Sheriff's Office (Kansas), Executive Director of the Kelsey Smith Foundation, www.kelseysarmy.com  Joe Scott Morgan - Professor of Forensics Jacksonville State University, Author,"Blood Beneath My Feet" featured on "Poisonous Liaisons" on True Crime Network Sierra Gillespie - Crime Online Investigative Reporter Tipline: South Dakota Highway Patrol - [phone] Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Imagine your father, your brother, your son dying in a ditch on the side of the road and somebody out there knows he's there but does nothing? Those are allegations right now, but the alleged perp is the well-respected Attorney General of South Dakota on his way home from a political fundraiser. So what's justice? Where is it? Will it ever happen? Beaver's cousin Nick Nemec also identified the body. It just seems like the whole process was just put on the

back burner and they could have got Victor up there a heck of a lot sooner to take a statement or identify a body or something. Beaver's wife also has concerns. How can you not see someone walking down the road? And for no sirens to go off the city of Sioux Falls. The city of Sioux Falls has a lot of concerns. How can you not see someone walking

down the road. And for no sirens to go off around here is highly unusual because any time there's an accident or anything. Why did my husband line a ditch for 22 hours. Why were no alarms sounded off over here when the accident happened? I mean, we have no answers yet.

And right now I'm just raw and numb. I just lost the man of my life. I can hardly stand even hearing it. You were just hearing our friend at Kilo Land News, that was Dan Centella, speaking with the victim's widow. With me, an all-star panel to make sense of it all. First of all, James Shelnut, 27 years, Metro Major Case Detective, SWAT Officer, now lawyer at ShelnutLawFirm.com. Renowned psychiatrist, joining me out of the Atlanta jurisdiction, Dr. Angela Arnold at AngelaArnoldMD.com. Greg Smith, Special Deputy Sheriff,

Johnson County Sheriff's Office in Kansas, and the Executive Director of the Kelsey Smith Foundation at Kelsey'sArmy.com. Please check that out. It's critical. Joe Scott Morgan, Professor of Forensics, Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon.

Now he's the star of Poisonous Liaisons on the True Crime Network. Joe Scott has covered literally thousands of death scenes. I don't mean covered them. I mean investigated them. He is a death investigator. But first, it's here in Gillespie, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. I don't understand exactly what they're saying happened. The attorney general, who is essentially the top cop in the state, every state

has one, the federal government has one. So the top cop for South Dakota is on his way home from a political fundraiser. And what's the allegation, Sierra? What happened? So what he says happened is he's headed to Pierre. That's the state capital. And he's headed along U.S. Highway 14 east of Highmore, South Dakota, which is a very small town. But I got to tell you something, Sierra. I got to tell you something. You know, I just took an RV trip with the twins and my husband. We went from Atlanta all the way across the country to Mount Rushmore, which, as you know, is in the Dakotas, all the way to Yellowstone, the Tetons, and back. So we went exactly where we're talking about. And there are really long stretches where you don't see anybody or anything. There's not a

pullover on the interstate, nothing. So I'm trying to tell you that not for the RV trip purposes, Sierra, but when you're out there, there may be a long stretch of road where you don't see anybody for a while. Okay, now, I'm sorry. What were you saying? Yes, that's exactly right. So I even went on Google Maps yesterday to kind of look at what people were doing. I love it when you do that, by the way, so I can understand the terrain. It's actually pretty important because I don't know how this guy laid in a ditch for a day, 22 hours, and nobody noticed.

So what did you learn, Sierra? Exactly. So the area that I was looking at, there aren't even very many homes. I mean, occasionally you'll pass like a farm or something along the way, but it's not a very populated area. So at the time, the attorney general says that he was driving at 1030 at night. There aren't streetlights or anything in that area. So it's probably pretty dark. And let me just hold that in. Hold that thought. You know, to Joseph Scott Morgan, Professor of Forensics, Jacksonville State University, I remember when I was at CNN HLN for so many years,

we were investigating the death of a little boy. And we went down to Florida. Well, he disappeared. His body's never been found. But we went to Florida to cover it live, and one of my New York producers was totally freaked out because there were not streetlights. And I remember saying, Norm, this is the way most of the country lives. You live in New York City. It's not like that. Once you get out of Manhattan and lives. You live in New York City. It's not like that. Once you get out of Manhattan and you leave the city of New York, it's not like that.

There's not streetlights. He thought something was actually wrong. He thought, why aren't the streetlights working? I said, Norm, there are no streetlights. You're in the middle of a country. But when you're out there like that, I'm not making an excuse for the hit and run. But what I'm saying is I wonder if they had anything to do with the fact that no one saw the body of this father and husband for so long. Yeah, yeah, it could very well be, Nancy. And

these are long, as you'd mentioned and Sierra had mentioned, these are long stretches of rural road. And he was, this actually occurred on U.S. Highway 14. And it's sitting in an interstate. I'm looking at a picture of it right now that Jackie pulled up for me. Yeah. I don't see anything but green fields way in the distance. I think I see a water tower and telephone poles. Go ahead.

Yeah. And this is farming country, Nancy. And these roads are kind of built up, if you will. All right. And on either side, there are ditches. If you look at some of these images, all you have are kind of agricultural fields where they probably grow things like wheat and barley and all that sort of thing. Well, they have to have those ditches right there in order to drain for, you know, for water runoff and this sort of thing. So if you hit an object on that road, whether it be a human or an animal or something, it's going to get kicked off the road and it will be beneath your field of view by probably three to four feet.

So you're just driving down the road. You're not going to see anything down in that ditch. Does that confirm what you learned, Sierra Gillespie? Yes, it does so basically what he said is that he was driving along the road and he hit something the attorney general right jason roundsburg 44 years old big big big in politics on his way home from a big time political fundraiser. All right. So he's on his way home from that in route to Pierre the Capitol. And what time of night was it, Sierra? It was about 1030 at night when this crash happened. Had he been drinking for Pete's sake? He didn't know he had a man?

He says he had not been drinking before. He was not drinking and driving. He did not drink after. Huh. Well, I guess we'll never know because it wasn't called in okay i don't want to jump the gun go ahead okay so technically he did call in but he reported that he hit a deer he says he got out and used like the flashlight on his phone to look around in the area to see like what it was but he says he wasn't able to find anything at all so he actually was in contact with the local sheriff and borrowed his vehicle to drive back to pierre okay i i'm sorry i don't understand what you're saying so this guy the top cop of south dakota is coming home from a fancy fundraiser and you're telling me nobody it

was dry nobody had a drink okay I'll just go with that and he hits a person and doesn't know what he hit he calls sheriffs and says he hit a deer. And then what happened? Yep. So he says he hit the deer. He says he got out and looked for it. Didn't find anything. And the sheriff came to that area. His vehicle was no longer drivable.

So the sheriff allowed him to borrow his vehicle. Did the sheriff look for the deer? I guess. But apparently nothing was found at that time. I don't know that the sheriff looked. I don't know that fact. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we are talking about the top cop, the Attorney General for the state of South Dakota, who is coming home from a big-time fundraiser. I'm being told by Sierra Gillespie that nobody had a drop. It was dry.

I find that really hard to believe, but I'll go with it, Sierra, just for now. And he rides over, smashes into the victim, Joe Beaver, but calls 911 and says he hit a deer, or he thinks he hit a deer. I don't know how you could head on collide with somebody and you don't know what you hit. Take a listen to this. find the victim. Approximately 22 hours from the time of the accident to the time we identified the body and 10 hours from the time my brother gave him a heads up on who the dead pedestrian the dead out on the highway probably was. It seemed like it just took him a darn long time to follow up on anything. You were hearing our friends at DRGN, and they're speaking to Nick Nemec, relative of the dead victim. You know what I hate?

James Shelnut, 27 years, Metro major case, now lawyer. When regular people like my family are doing battle with those more powerful, more wealthy, or more influential than they are. And you can't get answers and you get the runaround. I'm thinking about my dad. You know, James, my husband travels a lot for his work and he was just in Florida working. And I thought, when I hadn't heard from him for like seven or eight hours, I thought, what if he's been in a crash? And how would they even know to call me or contact me? I got so worried. And I think about this guy, Joe Beaver, and the pain in that woman's voice talking about he was the love of her life. And he laid there in a ditch for 22 hours, and now nothing's happening with the AG that ran him down and said it was a deer? I mean, the power dichotomy here is very upsetting to me. What do you think?

Yeah, it's bothersome. And in South Dakota, with it being less populated, it's a lot more of a closely knit community than, say, where you may have four or five times the number of law enforcement officers or prosecutors or other people in law enforcement. You know, this is even a smaller community. I've been out that way and it is a much smaller area, much less populated area. You know, I don't buy what this guy's saying. You know, I've worked for the past 20 years, you know, in our practice investigating catastrophic

accidents, fatality accidents, pedestrian accidents. And we've had several times where someone who has killed one of our clients said, hey, I thought I hit a deer or I thought I hit a dog. And when you go back and look at it, you start looking at the stretch of roadway where this was a long stretch of roadway. You start looking at the factors as far as, you know, nothing impeding view, you know, it starts to add up to me, you know, looking at it from an investigative standpoint, that he had plenty of time to perceive what he had hit. And even if he wasn't sure, the reports say that there was only eight-inch tall grass on the side of the roadway four ways um and it should have been fairly easy to locate a dead victim laying on the side of the road to greg smith joining me special deputy

sheriff johnson county sheriff's office in kansas and he's the executive director of the kelsey smith foundation kelsey's army.com and i really urge you to go to that website, kelseysarmy.com. Hey, Greg, just thinking about when I've hit something. And I've covered so many vehicular homicide cases, I'm actually slow down when I drive, believe it or not, because usually I'm flying like a bat out of H-E-L-L no matter where I'm going. But when I'm in the car, I really take it easy. I hit a dog once. I was coming off the interstate. I turned, so I was going fairly slowly. I was coming out of a red light, turned left off the interstate and a dog ran out. He belonged to a service station, gas station owner. And he usually stayed at the gas station and ran across the street. I was so upset and I saw

the dog, but it was too late. It's like he ran straight into my car and I got out. I went running to try to find somebody to help me save the dog. And I happened to find the gas station owner. It was his dog. And okay. Then another time I hit a squirrel that ran out in front of me. But both times I saw what happened. Both times. How can you hit a person and you're hitting in front, you've got your lights on, probably your brights. How can you not see it was a person? Help me're the deputy sheriff for pete's sake well it depends i mean there's so much that we don't know about what happened here um i mean reportedly mr beaver was walking i've heard reports he was on the side of the road i've

heard reports he was in the road we don't know if what his condition was uh had he been drinking why do i care he's not driving drunk why would i even think be concerned about whether he was We don't know what his condition was. Had he been drinking? Why do I care? He's not driving drunk. Why would I even be concerned about whether he was drinking? He's dead. There's nothing wrong with drinking and walking as far as I know, Greg Smith. Well, it is against the law.

If there is, I'm telling my husband to sit down right now. Quit walking. But the point is, I'm not blaming Mr blaming mr beaver but what i'm saying kind of sounds like you are what if his actions caused what if he stepped in front of the car unexpectedly rather than what what is being reported here we just don't know we don't have enough information you know greg smith i like you you and i go way way way back but are you actually trying to tell me that it could be the victim's fault he got mowed down by this guy and then laid in the ditch 22 hours for all i know he could have been saved

greg how do i know he died immediately he laid in that ditch and died that's a heck of a way to go i don't disagree with what you're saying n Nancy. I'm just saying there are so many factors that we have to consider before we can say with absolute conviction that this is a crime, that this needs to be a conviction. I'm not saying that. Okay, let me ask you a lightning round of questions. Let's pretend you're on cross-examination, Greg Smith, you poor thing. Okay, number one, isn't it true that this was a public road? Yes, no. Yes.

And isn't it true that on public roads, Greg Smith, people in general have the right to walk as a pedestrian? It may not be smart. As a general rule, yes. Okay. And isn't it true, Greg Smith, that generally speaking, pedestrians have the right of way? Yes. Okay. And isn't it true, Greg Smith, that generally speaking, pedestrians have the right of way? Yes. Okay. Greg Smith, have you ever got behind a jogger or a bicyclist and been irritated because they're going so slow? Yes.

Okay. Did you run them down, Greg Smith, and leave them to die in the ditch? Nope. Okay, that's good to know. Now, isn't it true, Greg Smith, that the victim in this case was hit by the front of the suspect's car, the AG, the top cop, Jason Roundsburg? By all reports, yes. And isn't it also true that he would have had his lights on

as he was driving at night? I don't know. Okay. Let's assume he had his lights on because he was driving at night? I don't know. Okay. Let's assume he had his lights on because he was driving at night. Are you telling me that you think he didn't see he hit a person? I don't know that either. Very wise, ma'am. Okay. Joe Scott Morgan. Wait, hold on, Joe Scott, before I get to you on whether he could have lived and died in that ditch after surviving for several hours, James Shelnut, Greg Smith is being very circumspect, and I respect that.

I do. But it's going to be a cold day in H-E-double-L that I don't think this guy saw he hit a person. No. Look, Nancy, if you just go back just to some basics, time and speed calculations. I'm not about to put on a math class because I think you want your listeners to stay awake. Yeah, please don't start math. I'm having hard enough time with pre-algebra with the twins. But let's just talk about some basics, okay? A car travels about 200 feet. I hope you're listening, Greg Smith. Go ahead, James Shelnut. First of all, you want to look at a human factor

reaction time. And most accident reconstruction is used somewhere between 1.5 and 3 seconds as the amount of time it takes for someone to perceive something and then react in a car wreck so let's just say that we've got three seconds there it takes another two seconds at 69 70 miles an hour which is what this guy was, you know, calculated as traveling, he would have had four or five seconds looking at this object to tell whether or not it's a deer. One 1,000, two 1,000, three 1,000, four 1,000, five 1,000.

I just can't fathom that within four to five seconds of staring at this object, he wouldn't know the difference between a deer and a human being. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, again, thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111. I do have to agree with Greg Smith joining us at kelseysarmy.com. This is not about convicting anybody.

It's really not. This is about finding the truth. And in my mind, there's no way he could have not seen what he hit. There's absolutely no way if he had on his lights. Now, it's my understanding that Sierra Gillespie Roundsburg was driving from a fundraiser in Redfield to his home 110 miles away on Saturday night. And he did have on his lights. At the very worst, the victim was walking in the road. How do you not see that at a distance or even up close? And how do you think you hit a deer? Jackie, before I go to Sierra, I want to circle back to our Thought One.

Listen to Dan Santella with Kilo Land News. Beaver's cousin Nick Nemec also identified the body. It just seems like the whole process was just put on the back burner and they could have got Victor up there a heck of a lot sooner the road. I think it's a good thing that we're able to get out of here a heck of a lot sooner. To take a statement or identify a body or or something beavers wife also

has concerns. How can you not see someone walking down the road. And for no sirens to go off around here is highly unusual because anytime there's an accident or anything. Why did my husband lie in a ditch for 22 hours? Why were no alarms sounded off over here when the accident happened? I mean we have no answers yet and right now I'm just raw and numb. I just lost the man of my life.

That hurts me so bad to hear her, to hear her speak about the pain she's suffering, to think of her husband lying in a ditch for 22 hours. What if he was alive for half that time or any of that time and could have been saved, but he lied that he lay there and died. What was he thinking about? Was he unconscious? I don't know.

Guys, we are hearing more about the Attorney General. It is said that he does drink occasionally, but makes it a practice not to drink at political events. According to another state senator, now you know how I feel about politicians. You can take that with a box of salt. I did not see him with anything but a Coke. The worst he's got is a traffic ticket for speeding,

seatbelt violation, and proper exhaust and muffler system. That means nothing to me, that he does not have a prior conviction. That means nothing to me that he does not have a prior conviction. That means nothing to me. All that matters to me is what happened that night. Back to Sierra Gillespie, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. What else do we know? So after all of this happens and he reports the situation that he claims he hit a deer, he heads back to Pierre.

Everything is relatively fine, I guess. He arrives at midnight. But the next day, the Attorney General, Jason Roundsburg, says he heads back to the scene, hopefully to gather his vehicle, all of that. And that's when he says he discovers that there is a body there. That's also when he says he reports it right away and says this person was clearly deceased. I'm calling the authorities. To Joseph Scott Morgan, professor of forensics, Jacksonville State University.

Joe Scott, based on what we know right now, what happened to the victim when he was hit? Well, if you take a look at the vehicle, which I've seen the images of the vehicle, the damage to the vehicle, as you had mentioned, is on the front of the vehicle and on the right side. It appears as though that we have an incident where he was struck by the leading right bumper of the vehicle and then cast up onto the windshield, which is very common. And then he rolls off of the vehicle into this ditch, you know, where he came to rest. Now, there's a variety of different types of injuries that we can talk about relative to this. But at autopsy, you know, one of the things that we're going to be looking for, something that our listeners can remember, something called bumper marks. And you'll see these on the shins, the knees, and sometimes the upper legs, dependent upon how the victim

reacts, the pedestrian victim reacts to an oncoming vehicle. If they're standing erect, there's a high probability that you'll have what are referred to as bilateral or twin fractures in the lower extremities. And then you're going to have shoulder injuries. And also, and this is the big one, you're going to have closed head injuries. So I think going back to what you had said, one of the things I'm interested in is that autopsy, did this guy die immediately upon impact? Or did he kind of languish there where he's literally bleeding out? And that's something that we can determine at autopsy, you know, after the results are in and find out also if he's impaired in any way.

You know, what does his toxicology show? And, of course, with the attorney general, we're not going to know what his toxicology showed because he didn't get tested for almost 24 hours after. Listen, Nancy, anything he may have had on board, we're talking about going to this party and whatnot. It's already metabolized. It's already gone through his system. So there's no, you can't unring the bell at that point. So you have to think about, was he impaired in some other way? And one other thing, and I'll shut my mouth, but I got to tell you, he's on a long trip. You had mentioned this. This is a long way to drive. He's out in the middle of nowhere. I'm not so much worried

if he consumed alcohol at that party. You know what I'm thinking about? Was he distracted by his phone in any way? And that is something they can go back and take a look at, Nancy. They need to get their hands on that phone and see what this guy was doing at precisely that time when he was supposed to be in transit in this vehicle. Was he distracted in any way? I'm listening to everything you're saying and to you, Greg Smith, Special Deputy Sheriff, Johnson County Sheriff's Office in Kansas, it's going to be hard to pinpoint the exact time of the crash because we only have to have his word for it when he called 911. But I heard Joe Scott Morgan say typically with a case like this, based on where the damage is to the attorney general's car,

the victim would have gone up on his windshield. How could you think that was a deer? Yeah, there's obviously an impact on the windshield, so that would be one thing. And I have some of the same concerns that were just mentioned. My first thought was, was he distracted by a cell phone? It's very common anymore in accidents, much more common. It's become as common as alcohol or drug involvement as far as the means of impairment. The other thing, he's 10.30 at night.

He's had a day at work. He went to a fundraiser. He's on his way back. It's a 110-mile drive. Did he doze off? And that may be why he didn't see what he hit until it was hit. That's a good point. He may not have seen it if he was sleepy.

There's just so much that we don't know, which makes the whole thing frustrating. I mean, I played around just a little bit with the skid marks that they reported, some 200 feet of skid marks in that. Now, there's a lot of factors I don't know. I don't know the drag factor on the road. I don't know braking efficiency. I won't bore your listeners with all the math. Oh, I'm not bored.

I love every word you're saying. Did you say there are 200 feet of skid marks? That's what I read in one report. But on an average road, 200 feet of skid marks calculates out to about 64, 65, 66 miles an hour. So we're not talking excessive rate of speed here. But 200 feet of skid marks? That tells me he either saw the victim for 200 feet and was hitting the brakes, or he hit the victim and hit the brakes for 200 feet. One or the other. And that's what we don't know because the report doesn't say were they before the impact site. And again, we may never know where the impact

site are. There are some things you can look for. It's not uncommon for a pedestrian that's hit by a car to literally come out of their shoes near the impact point. That happens a lot. I can't really explain the math behind it, but it happens a lot. I've seen it a lot in my career. So that would be one thing. You know, there may be some kind of blood trace or blood remains that were on the road at the point of impact, or there may not. You know, I just I don't know. I just don't have enough information. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we are bringing you the latest on a very, very troubling death. Dad, husband, Joe Beaver, found dead on the side of the road. Apparently, the top cop, the attorney general for the state of South Dakota, was driving about 110 mile drive that night and plowed down Beaver. Call 911 said he

hit a deer. And it wasn't until nearly a day later that Mr. Beaver's body was found. Sierra Gillespie, correct me if I'm wrong, from what I have learned, the body of Joseph Beaver was discovered in the grass next to the crash site. How could you miss that? Is that correct? Yes, Nancy, that is correct. It was discovered in the ditch. So I'm not entirely sure how far from the actual crash that was, but relatively close in that area. Again, we are hearing that the attorney general had not been drinking, but as Joe Scott Morgan pointed out, we'll never know because it took a full day for the body to be found and for him to be tested for alcohol or anything else.

Was he texting? Was he asleep? You know, Dr. Angela Arnold, psychiatrist, joining me out of the Atlanta jurisdiction at AngelaArnoldMD.com. When I hear the widow speaking, the power dynamic is very upsetting to me. Here she is, this woman, and she's basically taking on the South Dakota government, the very highest echelons of government. I don't like it. Well, and Nancy, look at all of the experts you have on your show today. And everyone has said there's not enough evidence. There are so many holes in this story. So we can't even imagine what she's going through. She doesn't, as far

as I'm concerned, she doesn't have a chance of ever knowing the whole truth. Guys, take a listen to the governor. Last night at about 10 30 p.m. in Hyde County, the attorney general was involved in a crash while driving on U.S. Highway 14 just west of Highmoor. There was a fatality and law enforcement is working on identifying the deceased and notifying the family. South Dakota Highway Patrol will run the investigation and the Department of Public Safety Secretary Craig Price will oversee that and report directly to me. You were hearing the governor speak out, Kristi Noem right there. They claim that they are appointing an independent investigator.

What is that, Sierra Gillespie? Please explain. So I also saw in a different report, too, that they're bringing in some investigators from North Dakota. And occasionally they'll do this because obviously the attorney general of South Dakota has a lot of connections within South Dakota. So sometimes if there is a high profile case like this, I'm sure some of your experts can speak better to this than I can. But they'll bring in like outside investigators or things like that just to make sure that it's not biased in any way. Well, we're learning that the attorney general there, Roundsburg, said he discovered Beaver's body in the grass just off the shoulder of the road. Just off the shoulder of the road. This is reminding me of a case that I watched live every minute of it. It was one of the very first death by vehicle cases that hit the headlines anyway. The defendant's name was Shante Mallard.

Listen. ...and in furtherance of the commission or attempt or an immediate flight from the commission or attempt, she committed or attempted to commit an act clearly dangerous to human life to it transported greg biggs to her home when he was seriously injured and lodged in her car or lodged in the windshield of her car and she secreted him in her garage which prevented him from receiving medical care which caused the death of greg v. Paragraph 2. It is further presented in 2-6-4 that the defendant in the county of Tarrant and state of Forsyth on or about the 26th day of October 2001 did then and there intentionally or knowingly

commit or attempt to commit a felony to a... Now, in that case, Shante Mallard from Fort Worth, Texas, was convicted and sentenced to 50 years behind bars because of her role in the death of 37-year-old man Gregory Glenn Biggs. Shante Mallard was driving along. She hit Biggs. He was lodged on her window sill. She didn't claim she didn't know what to do. Think about it. Just call 911 on your cell phone. Instead, she drives home over a mile with him on the window sill, parks in her closed garage while he dies. Now, it has been said that she had been drinking, but so much time passed, we don't really know. You know, in that case, Joseph Scott Morgan, death investigator, I'm just having a really hard, more information, what I'm thinking is, is that, you know, when you think about striking, I've, I've hit many deer, you know, out here in the

rural South where I live, they're like cockroaches, they're everywhere. And so you, you hit this deer, you don't expect to see a human being in the road. So I think that one of the things your mind immediately flies to in this is, well, I hit a deer, you know, and in a flash, maybe that's what happens. There are a lot of deer in South Dakota. Maybe that's what he was thinking at the time. Right in front of your car. You can't see to your headlight. You can't see that far, Joe Scott. You can't see a person at your headlight of your car. Well, this goes back to what we were saying. Was he distracted in some way?

Or did this guy just step out of the shadows and into the path of the oncoming car? Because I think that your reaction, Tom, is going to be diminished greatly if the guy kind of stepped. We've already said there's no streetlights out there. It's a rural farming community. So if this guy is just standing on the edge of the road, maybe he's going to try to flag this guy down. I'd like to know why he was out there in this kind of desolate region. I'll tell you why. He had a problem with his car. That's why he was on foot. That's what happened. That's why the victim was on foot. Guys, take a listen to Alicia Garcia, KOTA.

South Dakota Attorney General Jason Roundsburg issued a statement late tonight about the car accident he was involved in this past Saturday where he apparently struck and killed a man. According to Roundsburg, after the collision, he called 911 immediately, telling the Hyde County Sheriff's Office that he had hit a deer. But the next morning, 55-year-old Joseph Beaver of Highmoor was found dead at the scene. Roundsburg said tonight that after the collision, he immediately stopped his vehicle to investigate. He said he could not see what he had hit but saw pieces of his vehicle laying on the roadway.

Roundsburg remained at the scene while the sheriff surveyed the area. Roundsburg's car was towed from the scene and he drove the sheriff's car back to pier. The next day, Roundsburg returned to the scene of the accident and found Mr. Beaver's body in the grass just off the roadway, according to him. On the night of the crash, Roundsburg had been in Redfield for the Spink County Lincoln Day Dinner. Roundsburg says he did not consume any alcohol. Joe Scott, what do we know about the condition of the Attorney General Jason Roundsburg's vehicle? Yeah, just to kind of reiterate this, when they examined the vehicle, and our listeners can go on and see this

vehicle, there's significant damage to the right side of the windshield and also to the front right aspect of the vehicle. You know where the headlight is. What did you say about the windshield? The windshield is actually kind of caved in, if you will. And when, just think about this, Nancy, you're traveling. Do I need to think anymore? Seriously? His windshield is caved in and he didn't know it was a person? Okay. Well, is there any way around that? The windshield is caved in and he didn't know it was a person? Okay. Well, is there any way around that? The windshield is caved in and he's saying he thought it was a deer. Yes. Okay. Shelnut? Nancy, you know, if you look at whether or not this accident happened, you know, and he hit this victim and then hit the brakes or whether or not he hit the brakes and hit the victim,

if you go back and look at the reports, the victim has a cousin named Nick Nemec, and Nick is a state lawmaker out in South Dakota. Nick says that he went to the scene and that there were 200 feet of skid marks, and at the end of those 200 feet of skid marks, there was blood. That would have been consistent with the attorney general hitting the brakes, then hitting the victim, and then the victim flying off the car and landing on the side of the roadway. If what he is saying is accurate, it's clear that he hit the brakes and then hit the victim. Did you read, did you learn also that the relatives of the victim were told they could not take pictures of the scene?

I did, and they were told they couldn't take pictures of the scene. And then Nick Nemec then went to the tow yard where the attorney general's car was being stored and was told he couldn't see it. Now, that's not abnormal. But in the same token, it appears that after things got looked at that next day, they actually shut the roadway. Authorities shut the roadway down and then went back and did a lot more thorough investigation. And so I look for there to be a lot of information coming out of that investigation by the time the decision is made whether or not to prosecute. Okay, I'm just gonna drop it right there. Let's see if justice unfolds.

Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.