Arrest made in death 2017 hit-and-run crash
NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - The New Smyrna Beach Police Department has a made an arrest in a hit-and-run incident nearly a year after the fatality.
Investigators said they were able to obtain the final piece of the puzzle in this case last week, in the form of DNA evidence. They said that evidence puts 32-year-old Jeremy Wharton behind the wheel of the vehicle that caused the death of 21-year-old Kaelee Morrell. Police said Morrell was struck and killed in the early morning hours of Oct. 29 of last year, along State Road 44.
An arrest warrant was obtained for Jeremy Wharton shortly after and police had been searching for him ever since.
Wharton was finally taken into custody by Daytona Beach Police late Monday afternoon on the felony arrest warrant. He faces charges of leaving the scene of a crash involving a fatality and leaving the scene of a crash with serious injury. He has been booked into the Volusia County Jail on a no bond status.