Truck parts lead police to hit-and-run suspect
The man accused of hitting a pedestrian, then leaving the scene, has been charged with felony criminal vehicular homicide.
Derek Paul Denelsbeck, 42, was arraigned Friday morning in Steele County District Court. He remains in custody in lieu of $10,000 conditional bond and is due back in court Dec. 23.
The investigation began about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, when a passerby spotted an unresponsive man lying in the ditch in the 3700 block of Steele County Road 45 North. The driver said there were red vehicle parts in and around the area.
Authorities arrived to find Taylor Dean Padilla-Ades, 31, already dead.
One of the vehicle parts at the scene was identified as a passenger-side fender flare that would fit a 2007-2013 Chevrolet Silverado. There were small white zip ties attached to the fender flare.
One of the officers at the scene recalled seeing a 2012 Chevy Silverado recently, specifically recalling the small zip ties on the body of the truck. He knew it was owned by Denelsbeck, and did not see any significant damage to the vehicle.
When officers drove past his residence, the truck was backed into the garage; according to the criminal complaint, the front headlight assembly was damaged, as was the area near the front right fender.
As authorities waited for a search warrant, Denelsbeck called dispatch.
He told a detective “someone just called me and told me I hit someone this morning apparently… I thought I hit a deer. This was five in the morning, who the (expletive) walks on the side of the road at five in the (expletive) morning on a frontage road,” court documents say.
Denelsbeck allegedly said it was like he hit “an (expletive) wall,” and “didn’t see nothing until I heard the bang.”
He went on to say he stopped just north of the scene and looked at his truck, and turned around to see the deer or his truck parts and didn’t see anybody or anything, the complaint says.
A witness told investigators he had seen a dark-colored newer crew cab Chevy about 5:15 a.m., pulled over in the northbound lane of County Road 45. The witness saw a man walking around the front of the vehicle, and the passenger side headlight was “all messed up.”
The search warrant of Denelsbeck’s truck indicated it was traveling at 57 mph and had no braking upon impact, the report says. The recovered front ride fender flare recovered at the scene matched his vehicle.
Preliminary autopsy results show Padilla-Ades died of blunt force trauma.