Man with Louisville ties decapitated in Georgia crash
Associated Press
MARIETTA, Ga. ? A drunken driver hit a utility pole support wire that decapitated his passenger, then drove 12 miles back to his suburban Atlanta home and slept in his bloody clothes, leaving the headless body in his truck, police said.
The dead man was identified as Francis Daniel Brohm, 23, whose family lives in Louisville.
A neighbor walking with his baby daughter Sunday morning found the headless corpse in the truck in John Kemper Hutcherson's driveway and called authorities, said Cpl. Dana Pierce, Cobb County police spokesman.
"It's hard for one to imagine that you would drive (several) miles from a crash site to your home, turning in various directions, and yet not know what has happened to a passenger sitting next to you in your vehicle," Pierce said.
Hutcherson, 21, has been charged with first-degree vehicular homicide, driving under the influence, failure to stop at an accident with death or injury, and failure to maintain lanes.
He is in the Cobb County jail, and a judge raised his bond from $10,000 to $100,000 yesterday morning.
Police said Hutcherson and Brohm ? best friends since they attended Pope High School together ? were drinking at a bar Saturday night and left after Brohm said he felt sick.
Brohm had been hanging his head out the passenger-side window when Hutcherson swerved off the road about a mile and a half from the bar, police said. Police aren't certain how fast the truck was going when the guy wire severed Brohm's head.
Authorities later found the head in the bushes near the pole.
The only noticeable damage on Hutcherson's 1992 Chevrolet Z-71 truck was to a side mirror, authorities said.
Officers said Hutcherson appeared remorseful after they found him sleeping inside his home Sunday morning, still covered in blood and apparently intoxicated. Police don't think foul play is involved.
This is Hutcherson's fourth stay in the Cobb County jail, a sheriff's official said.
He was jailed in January on charges of possession of less than an ounce of marijuana.
In 2001, Hutcherson was held on a number of traffic charges, including driving under the influence. He pleaded guilty then to underage possession, but the other charges were thrown out.
