WASHINGTON — Montgomery County police say they’re close to finishing an investigation into a crash that killed two Wooton High School graduates in June and could take their findings to prosecutors in the coming weeks.
Calvin Li and Alex Murk, both 18, were killed in the June 25 crash in North Potomac. Police initially believed that speed and alcohol were factors in the crash that injured two other teens who were in the same car.
Corporal Rebecca Innocenti, with Montgomery County police, says the length of the investigation is not unusual. Fatal crash investigations can take months. She declined to say whether the investigation confirmed that alcohol contributed to the crash.
“Our investigators will wait until they do confer with the state’s attorney’s office to make any final findings of what exactly contributed to this collision,” Innocenti says.
Police could take their findings to prosecutors by the end of September or early October.
The driver, 18-year-old Samuel Ellis was injured along with an unidentified 17-year-old passenger. In June, police indicated that alcohol was found in the car, and that the teenagers had been at an underage drinking party.
Innocenti says that part of the investigation is being handled by the police department’s Alcohol Initiative Division, and that those findings will be presented at the same time as the collision reconstruction team meets with prosecutors.
The Wooton High school community was rocked by the deaths of the teenagers, and the school’s principal, Michael Doran, was widely credited with helping families and students come to grips with their deaths. Then in late August, the community was buffeted by tragedy again when Doran died unexpectedly at his Bethesda home.
WTOP’s Kate Ryan contributed to this report.
