[S]T. JOHNSBURY — Police say that when they found the body of Mattie Lynn Hale off the side of Route 5 in Lyndonville on Saturday morning, they saw two pink socks nearby and one of her black boots under a guardrail.
About 55 feet from Hale’s body, police say, were a large number of coins scattered beside the road, several silver and clear plastic car parts, and an earring.
Gary Hale, 41, and Katrina Haslam, 47, both of Lyndonville, pleaded not guilty Monday in Caledonia Superior Court to charges related to Mattie Hale’s death. The victim was 46 and lived in Lyndon. Police said the Hales aren’t related.
Vermont State Police say Gary Hale was the driver and Haslam a passenger in a vehicle that struck Mattie Hale sometime after 11:30 p.m. Friday as she walked home along Route 5 from the Tom Breslin Community Center in Lyndonville. Police say neither Gary Hale nor Haslam reported the crash.
According to a police affidavit, when detectives asked Haslam what she thought when they knocked on her door Saturday, she replied, “Oh, shit.”
Mattie Hale’s family said little after the hearing, telling reporters it was too emotional. One family member described Mattie Hale as a mother of three children who worked three jobs to support them.
“She’s a great person, a great mom, a loving sister, a beautiful person,” Calvin Allen, her older brother, said outside the courtroom. “That’s all I care to say right now.”
Gary Hale faces a felony charge of leaving the scene of a crash with death resulting. He was ordered held on $15,000 cash bail and could get up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
Haslam faces a felony charge of being an accessory after the fact and was released on conditions, including that she stay away from members of Mattie Hale’s family. The maximum punishment for her charge is seven years behind bars.
It wasn’t until about 7:45 a.m. Saturday that a passer-by spotted Mattie Hale’s body off the road, according to police.
Video from the community center’s surveillance system showed her walking out at about 11 p.m. Friday, police said.
The video also showed a male driver and female passenger getting into what looked like a silver Ford Fiesta and driving away about 11:30 p.m. Friday in the direction of the crash site, according to police.
Car parts from the side of the road where Mattie Hale’s body was found belonged to a 2010-2014 Ford Fiesta, authorities said.
Community center employees later identified the man and woman who got into the silver vehicle as Gary Hale and Haslam, a police affidavit stated.
Police said they found a 2011 Ford Fiesta with “significant” damage to the passenger side, including the hood and windshield, parked directly next to the building where Haslam and Gary Hale live.
Gary Hale told police he had made a bad decision the previous night and drove away after hitting what he thought was an animal, according to a police affidavit. He added that he drove back around that area and didn’t see anything so he went home, the affidavit stated.
Gary Hale also told police that both he and Haslam had had a couple of drinks at the bar that night and then a couple more after returning home.
The next morning, Gary Hale told police, he learned of the death of a pedestrian and thought about calling police but was too scared, the affidavit stated.
Haslam, questioned separately from Gary Hale, also said she believed they had struck an animal, adding that at one point he got out of the vehicle to search the area but saw nothing, police wrote in an affidavit.
Passing the area of the crash on the way to the police barracks, with both suspects in the car, a detective asked Gary Hale where he got out of the vehicle Friday night to search.
“Gary replied, saying he did not get out of the car, which was discrepancy to what Katrina had told me when we were speaking back at the residence,” State Police Detective Sgt. Aimee Nolan wrote in an affidavit. “(Detective Sgt. Karl) Gardner said he heard a sigh from Katrina, who was sitting in the back seat.”
Later, at the barracks, Haslam told police she thought it was a person they hit but that after going back and failing to find anything she believed it must have been an animal that had since run off.
Asked what happened when they later learned it was a person who was hit, Haslam replied, “I got scared. He got scared,” according to police.
Haslam also later told police that Gary Hale parked the vehicle where he did to hide the damage and that he didn’t want to call police because he had been drinking before the crash, according to the affidavit.
Police then went back to Gary Hale.
“At this time, Hale admitted that Haslam told him that she thought they hit a person and not an animal,” according to the affidavit. “Hale stated that he still thought what he hit was an animal.”
Caledonia County State’s Attorney Lisa Warren had sought $5,000 cash bail for Haslam, in addition to $15,000 for Gary Hale.
Attorneys for the suspects said both were lifelong residents of the area, adding that Haslam had no record while Gary Hale’s record involved a DUI and disorderly conduct conviction.
Judge Thomas J. Devine released Haslam but agreed with the prosecutor’s request to hold Gary Hale.
Based on the police affidavits filed in court so far, the judge said of Gary Hale’s case, “The evidence of guilt appears to be great.”
