Warrant issued for driver who fled accident

The IU Police Department issued a warrant for the arrest of Alberto DeJesus Thursday for fleeing the scene of a two-car accident Monday night that killed IU senior Ashley Crouse.\nDeJesus boarded a bus Tuesday en route to Manor Park, Del., police learned Wednesday night.\nDeJesus is wanted for leaving the scene of an accident, a Class C felony punishable by three to eight years in prison.\n"Currently, that's his only charge," said IUPD Lt. Jerry Minger. "That's not to say that after we find him there won't be additional charges."\nThe U.S. Marshals are assisting local law enforcement agencies in searching for more information about DeJesus by re-interviewing those who were thought to have known him. Thursday night there were five U.S. Marshals in Bloomington conducting interviews, including a Spanish-speaking Marshal seeking more information, said Supervisory Deputy Jason Wojdylo. The Marshals said they believe Alberto DeJesus is not his real name and the investigation is developing rapidly. Due to the ongoing investigation the Marshals said they could not release his real name.\n"One of the challenges that the IUPD is facing is communicating with individuals with information due to the language barrier. Many of them are non-English speaking individuals," Wojdylo said. "Our goal is to shake the information loose. At this point we believe Alberto DeJesus is a questionable name and we are going to get to the bottom of who our suspect driver really is so we can put that information out to the public. I expect we will have the information in a short time." \nAccording to police reports, DeJesus, the driver of the gray Honda station wagon, struck a red Jeep carrying Crouse, her boyfriend junior Christopher Carlson and senior Julie Greenbaum at 11:22 p.m. Monday night. At the time of the accident, the stoplight directing westbound traffic on Third Street was flashing yellow. Northbound and southbound traffic on Hawthorne Avenue had a flashing red light. \n"Until we talk to (DeJesus) we haven't reached a conclusion as to whose fault the accident was," Minger said. "He is a part of the puzzle and we'd like to speak with him before we make a determination about the accident."\nMinger said after DeJesus was identified as the driver in the accident, officers went to his Grant Street residence where three men told officers they did not know DeJesus' whereabouts.\n"We had no reason to believe the residents were lying," Minger said.\nMinger said officers learned that DeJesus was in the Grant Street residence when officers spoke to neighbors there Monday night.\nOfficers returned to DeJesus' residence Wednesday night and brought the three men in for questioning. Minger said the men were taken to the police station because their identification was in question.\n"We had a difficult time speaking with them because they spoke little or no English," said Minger, who called in Joseph Clements, director of undergraduate studies of the Department of Spanish & Portuguese, to assist police by acting as an interpreter.\nThrough Clements' interpretation, police learned DeJesus boarded a bus on Tuesday night to Delaware. \nAccording to the Greyhound bus schedule for April 12, two bus trips were scheduled to depart from Bloomington and arrive in Wilmington Manor, Del., which is a suburb of Manor Park, Del. One bus was scheduled to leave Bloomington at 6 p.m. Tuesday and arrive in Delaware at 4:40 p.m. Wednesday. Both bus trips had three transfer stops.\nAfter receiving a warrant from the Monroe County Prosecutor's office, police faxed the information on DeJesus to the New Castle County Police Department in Delaware.\n"After receiving information from the (IUPD) requesting we attempt to locate DeJesus, our officers checked on an apartment were he was believed to be," said Cpl. Trinidad Navarro of the NCPD. "We found a subject with the same last name at the residence but later determined it was not the (DeJesus)."\nNavarro said officers have been assigned to frequent that area. If caught, DeJesus will be detained in Delaware before being sent back to Indiana.\nAnyone who might have any information about DeJesus' whereabouts should immediately contact IUPD at 855-4111.\n-- Contact Staff Writer Lori Geller at lfgeller@indiana.edu.