ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – A Crimeline tip from a person who saw pictures of a damaged vehicle on social media led to the arrest of a suspect in a fatal hit-and-run crash, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
Troopers said Robert Henschel, 70, ran out of gas on State Road 528 around 11:30 p.m. on Feb. 23, leaving his vehicle disabled partially in the travel lane. He got out to speak to another motorist to explain what happened when a car swerved to avoid hitting the other driver's vehicle and hit Henschel in the process, the report said.
Henschel died as a result of the crash.
Troopers said the driver never stopped, but a maroon sideview mirror was left behind.
Less than a week after the crash, troopers said they received two calls from people who said they saw Dwayne Drayton post pictures on social media showing a maroon Dodge Charger with a shattered windshield and missing sideview mirror.
Drayton wrote in the post that he hit a deer, records show.
Later that day, Drayton, 37, contacted troopers saying his insurance company told him that FHP was investigating the crash, authorities said.
"I thought I had hit a deer and looked in the rearview mirror. I didn't see any headlights and continued to drive," Drayton said, according to the report.
A search warrant was executed on the vehicle March 4. By that point, troopers said the vehicle had been cleaned and evidence had been removed. Records show that the analysis results came back Friday concluding that Henschel's DNA was on Drayton's windshield.
Records from Drayton's cellphone show that he searched Google for "vehicular manslaughter" after he spoke with troopers Feb. 28.
Drayton was arrested Wednesday on one count of felony leaving the scene of a crash involving death and one felony count of destroying evidence.