VICTIM DISCOVERED IN TOWED VAN 15-HOURS AFTER ACCIDENT

(01/22/2005)
A Wayne County mother is blaming State Police for the death of her son, according to Eyewitness News.

Twenty-one-year-old Dwight Ferguson's body was found in a wrecked van 15 hours later in a junkyard, where the vehicle was towed from the crash scene in Wayne County.

Troopers were called to investigate a a single-vehicle wreck where Ferguson's best friend, 21-year-old Darrell Maynard, was ejected from the vehicle and later died at a Huntington hospital.

Ferguson's body was in the wrecked auto and was discovered Wednesday afternoon at a salvage yard by an employee who was replacing a tarp that had blown off the van.

State Police say Debra Vernick's son was already dead by the time the troopers arrived. Spokesman Jay Powers says a preliminary report from the medical examiner's office indicates that Ferguson suffered a head injury and died a few minutes later.

Vernick believes her son may have been alive after the crash and could have been saved if the troopers had done a thorough search of the van and found him.

Officers did return to the wreck scene for a search after Ferguson's family reported him missing.