Nov. 3, 2003

Compassion United Six at a Deadly Crossroads

-from The News & Observer

By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Benjamin Niolet and Margie Fishman, staff writers
© Copyright 2003 The News & Observer Publishing Company.

RALEIGH -- It began as a collision of SUVs at a darkened crossroads that drew six helpful souls Saturday night, until Larry Veeder's white van barreled out of the darkness. On Sunday, investigators charged Veeder, 32, with drunken driving and involuntary manslaughter -- six counts.

six killed; two injured

KILLED:

Gene-Marie Louise Alfaro, 48, of Waxhaw

Robert Alfaro Jr., 46, of Waxhaw

Dennis Wayne Bowes, 28, of Cary

Christopher Clemons, 41, of Raleigh

Nolan Phillips Myers, 18, of Carver, Minn.

Bryan Matthew Tutor, 29, of Coats

INJURED:

Baron A. Fulk, 20, of Asheville

Martha P. West, 40, of Marble

Troopers called the crash at N.C. 54 and Nowell Road the Triangle's worst in years. Five people were killed at the intersection, their bodies strewn across the road. A sixth died on the way to the hospital.

"It was just a horrific scene," said Sgt. Everett Clendenin of the state Highway Patrol.

By Sunday, troopers had a clearer picture of what brought each of the dead and injured to the scene shortly after 8:45 p.m. the night before.

Troopers said that Baron A. Fulk, a 20-year-old N.C. State sophomore, ran a stop sign as he pulled his green Chevrolet Blazer onto N.C. 54 and was struck by a silver Blazer driven by Martha P. West, 40, of Marble in Cherokee County. Neither had any passengers.

Robert Alfaro Jr., 46, and wife Gene-Marie Louise Alfaro, 48, of Waxhaw, in town for N.C. State's parents weekend, stopped to help. So did two alumni on their way home from the football game at Carter-Finley Stadium: Dennis Wayne Bowes, 28, a financial planner >from Cary, and Bryan Matthew Tutor, 29, a heating and air conditioning repairman from Coats.

Nolan Phillips Myers, 18, a Campbell University freshman from Minnesota, was also headed home from the game when he stopped.

Christopher Clemons, 41, heard the accident from his home on nearby Lincolnville Road and pedaled over on his bicycle.

Veeder, who works at Professional Paint and Sheetrock in Raleigh, was driving east on N.C. 54 (also known as Chapel Hill Road) -- troopers are trying to figure out how fast -- when he struck the group, Clendenin said.

Tim Parry, 23, an N.C. State senior, watched the collision. He was behind the cars of a few victims, who had parked short of the stop sign on Nowell Road.

"I noticed out of the corner of my eye the white work van, and I thought 'Why doesn't he slow down? Doesn't he see this SUV in the middle of the road?' " Parry said. He listened for screeching tires but heard none, and then the bodies flew through the air.

As one of his passengers dialed 911, Parry and the two others jumped out to help the injured.

"All we heard was moaning and yelling and screaming," he said.

Careful to stay clear of the road, Parry said he quickly discovered a fellow student had just seen his parents killed.

Early suspicions

Troopers suspected Veeder was drunk when they arrived. He had alcohol on his breath, his eyes were glassy and his voice slurred, according to Wake magistrate's records. He refused to take a breath-alcohol test, so while the dead were taken to the state medical examiner's office in Chapel Hill and the injured to WakeMed and Rex hospitals, Veeder went to Wake County jail.

Veeder was being held in lieu of $120,000 bail late Sunday, scheduled to appear in court by this afternoon. Court papers Sunday did not list an attorney representing him.

Veeder has previous convictions for aiding and abetting drunken driving in 1990 and failing to comply with license restrictions in 1994. He pleaded guilty to driving without a license in 1992.

Mourning, praying

None of the crash victims was autopsied Sunday. Staff at the medical examiner's office could tell from a visual examination that five of the victims died from blunt force trauma. They had yet to examine Clemons' body.

Clemons, who worked for a road-striping company, did not grab identification before he went to the crash scene, and he went unidentified until relatives were called to WakeMed on Sunday. They knew him by the tattoo on his left shoulder: "Agnes," a memorial to his mother.

Christopher Alfaro, the N.C. State freshman who was with his parents at the crash, wept in a police car at the scene before returning to his dorm, roommate Jason Schaefer of Matthews said. The computer sciences major set out Sunday morning with his twin brother, Robert Alfaro, also a student at the university, to meet a third younger brother at home near Charlotte, Schaefer said.

Also Sunday, Martha West was released from Rex Hospital, according to state Highway Patrol Sgt. Barry Hower. Efforts to reach her failed.

Fulk, the driver of the green Blazer, was conscious and in serious condition at WakeMed. Parents Joseph and Dianne Fulk of Asheville and brother Joe Fulk, 26, were with him. The family chose not to discuss the crash.

"They just wish prayers instead of press," said the Rev. Paul Christy of Sylva, who was with the family Sunday and recently succeeded Joseph Fulk as pastor of First United Methodist Church in Sylva, near Asheville.

Investigators had not filed charges against Fulk late Sunday, but Clendenin said troopers were investigating how fast he was driving and whether alcohol played a role in the initial crash.

A classmate who visited Fulk in the hospital Sunday said he was driving home from visiting a friend in Raleigh and on his way to meet more friends when the crash occurred. Senior Chiao Cheng said she did not think Fulk had been drinking.

Friends offer support

Veeder was a regular at Sadlack's Heroes, a Hillsborough Street bar and sandwich shop where he was known as "Blinker." Many said Sunday night that Veeder is a gentle, generous person with a stock of jokes and a repertoire of sleight-of-hand tricks. He painted children's faces at Sadlack's on Halloween. He is a former chimney sweep and a professional clown who juggled and played the ukulele, the blues harmonica and squeezebox.

Veeder is known for wearing hats, including porkpies and fedoras. The hats, the instruments, the tricks and the corny jokes define his personality, said Peter Eichenberger, a columnist for the Independent Weekly.

"The ukulele just kind of suits this goofy, gentle nature he has," Eichenberger said.

His friends at Sadlack's wrote a note on a message board Sunday: "Hey, turn your sadness and concern into support for one of 'ours' who surely needs it NOW! Write a letter of support, love and of friendship. It will help him greatly and it will help you in your dealings with grief and sorrow."

"Out of all the people I know, Blinker is the most tragic person for this to happen to because he really wouldn't hurt a fly. He's a gentle-natured, gentle person," said Ryan Carlson, 34.

Patrons said Sunday that Veeder had not been in the bar before the accident.

By Sunday, much of the physical wreckage at the crash site had been removed. There were small reminders: a tangle of wires wrapped in a dandelion, shards of taillights, a shattered side-view mirror and a silver Chevrolet emblem. Passing cars sped over chalk outlines that straddled the middle of the road.

Tim Parry, the student who saw the crash, has had trouble sleeping. He wondered Sunday what Veeder was thinking as he sat in jail.

"Does he have any idea of what he's done?" Parry said. "The vision of the bodies -- that's pretty hard to get rid of."

Staff writer Molly Hennessy-Fiske can be reached at 829-4884.
Staff writers Cindy George and Chris Serres, news researcher Toby Lyles and reporter Tim Harlow of the Star Tribune in Minneapolis contributed to this report.

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