Police Recover 3rd Body From Irving Canal
IRVING (CBSDFW.COM) - Police in Irving recovered a third body from a canal on Thursday morning, after finding two other bodies inside of a submerged car in the canal just a day earlier. The incident started late on Wednesday afternoon as staffers with the Dallas County Water Utility and Reclaimation District were in the canal performing routine maintenance.
According to Irving Police Department spokesman John Argumaniz, the workers noticed debris in the area and guardrail damage along a nearby bridge. The team then found something in the water that resembled a car, so they called for assistance. The Lewisville Fire Department arrived with a dive team to explore the canal, which is about four to eight feet deep.
Authorities extracted a submerged Porsche Panamera with two bodies still inside -- one male and one female. The male was identified by the Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office as 41-year-old Ronald Eddins. Police investigators returned to the canal on Thursday morning and found the third victim in the water.
Thursday afternoon the ME identified the second and third victims as 21-year-old Kaat Paula Debeuckelaer of Colleyville and 23-year-old Kenneth Joseph Lark of Austin, respectively.
The autopsy on Lark is pending but the Medical Examiner determined Eddins cause of death was blunt force trauma and drowning. Debeuckelaer died from blunt force trauma injuries.
Investigators believe Lark was ejected from the car during the fatal crash.
The Panamera is the only four-door sedan that Porsche produces.
Argumaniz explained that the car had been traveling westbound on Northwest Highway at Riverside Drive, when the driver is believed to have lost control. The car hit an abutment, flattened a stop sign, sailed down an embankment and crashed into the guardrail before landing in the canal. No witnesses actually saw the crash, but there is a clear trail leading into the water.
However, witnesses did see the three adult victims at about 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning in the Dallas area. And an employee with Dallas Area Rapid Transit saw the guardrail damage at 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning. So, police have pinpointed this two-hour span as the time frame for the crash into the canal.
Argumaniz said that speed is believed to be a factor in the fatal crash.
