Watertown Man Charged With Killing Girlfriend With Truck
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A 42-year-old Watertown man is formally accused of killing his girlfriend by running over her with his truck.
The Carver County Attorney's office charged Casey Belden Hoskins Friday with one count of criminal vehicular operation in connection to the death of 33-year-old Jessica Ludenia.
The victim had been run over just a few houses down from where she lived on the 800 block of Deerfield Road -- a home she shared with Hoskins, his 3-year-son and another person.
The criminal complaint says a witness pulled over when they saw Ludenia lying in the middle of the road. Hoskins was standing nearby, and the witness asked him if he had called 911. Hoskins only replied, "She went under my truck."
The witness moved their vehicle in order to block traffic, but said Hoskins started dragging Ludenia off the roadway. The witness than called a nurse they knew, who came to the scene and started accessing the victim's injuries.
Both the witness and the nurse said Hoskins was acting "strange." His son came out of the truck and approached Ludenia, but the witnesses said Hoskins seemed more concerned with moving his truck back to his nearby driveway.
A Watertown Fire Department captain was the first responder at the scene, and said Hoskins had a beer bottle in the back pocket of his pants. Another bottle was later found in the door of his truck.
Deputies interviewed the other person who lived with the victim, the defendant and his child. They said all four went to a movie earlier in the day, and Hoskins and Ludenia argued and screamed at each other on the way to the theater.
The housemate said when they arrived back at the residence, Hoskins -- with his son in tow -- drove away after Ludenia and the witness exited the truck.
Witnesses say Ludenia ran after and jumped into the truck bed. The housemate said they heard the truck speed up and brake three times before seeing the victim lying in the road.
Ludenia was pronounced dead at Ridgeway Medical Center. The official cause of death was blunt force injuries to her torso.
Tire tracks were found on her back and her pants, and investigators found hair and tissue in the one of the truck's wheel wells.
Hoskins told investigators Ludenia did not want him to leave, so she jumped in the passenger's seat, and then jumped out.
He is currently in Carver County Jail. The criminal vehicular homicide charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
