RALEIGH – Two people were killed by a hit and run driver Thursday evening while coming to the aid of a truck driver whose cab had spun out on fresh snow on I-40 near Garner.
The State Highway Patrol arrested Marshall H. Doran, 21, of Kure Beach for felony hit and run. Impairment is expected.
Killed were Larry Kepler, 39, of Winston-Salem and Nathaniel Williams, 34, a Missouri native living in Hope Mills.
About 8 p.m. on Feb. 13, Cardell Gayfield of Clayton was driving a bobtail tractor with no trailer west on I-40 when his cab spun out of control and came to a stop perpendicular to the road. Gayfield placed reflectors in the road, then tried to move his truck out of the lane of traffic.
Kepler was driving a tractor-trailer on I-40 westbound when he saw Gayfield and stopped to assist. Williams and another driver swerved to the right of Gayfield’s truck to avoid a collision, and both cars went down an embankment. Williams exited his car and walked up the embankment to give assistance.
As Kepler and Williams were standing behind the bobtail tractor, they were struck and killed by Doran, driving a 2001 Volvo. He fled the scene. The Wake County Sheriff’s Office and Raleigh Police Department quickly established a perimeter and a State Highway Patrol helicopter assisted in the search.
Doran had been hiding in a wooded area, but gave himself up to a sheriff’s deputy. He was turned over to the State Highway Patrol and taken to the Wake County jail. He is charged with two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of driving while intoxicated, felony hit and run, careless and reckless driving and drug possession.