GILMER HIGH GRADUATE PEDESTRIAN VICTIM

(10/12/2006)
A 2006 graduate of Gilmer County High School has died after being struck and killed by an auto in Marietta, Ohio.

Funeral services are this week for 20-year-old Miranda Whipkey of Beverly, Ohio.

After the hit and run, 24-year-old Mark E. Rader II of Marietta is being held in Washington County on $118,500 bond.

Officers said the man was drunk and thought he had struck a deer.

Marietta police Chief Brett McKitrick said Whipkey and friend Miranda Scoggan, 18, of Marietta were walking near a Go-Mart when the car clipped her.

A city-wide search found the Rader car in a parking lot.

Rader told police he had consumed two Long Island Iced Teas, five or six beers, and one or two shots of liquor. He later changed his story to two or three beers.

He is charged with first-degree felony aggravated vehicular homicide, third-degree felony hit-skip, first-degree misdemeanor operating a vehicle while intoxicated and first-degree misdemeanor driving under suspension.

Rader faces up to 15 years in prison and $30,000 in fines, if convicted.