Above is a file photo from the crash scene one day after it happened in Pierceton. The car Zacheriah Cain was driving struck a tree before clipping the corner of the light-green house and then came to rest against a house in the background. InkFreeNews photo.

Staff Report

PIERCETON — Formal charges have been filed against the driver involved in a May 2021 motor vehicle accident that resulted in the death of his brother.

Zacheriah Cain, 27, 800 Pine St., Burden, Kan., is charged with causing death while operating a vehicle, a level 4 felony.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, at about 12:40 a.m. May 9, a Kosciusko County Sheriff’s deputy responded to a serious injury crash on SR 13 (First St.) in Pierceton.

The deputy observed a tree down across the roadway and a 2021 gray Mitsubishi Outlander that had collided with a residence at 604 N. First St. and at 602 N. First St., where the vehicle came to a rest. 

A male subject, later identified as Zacheriah Cain, was outside the vehicle. Another male subject, later identified as Dontaye Cain, Zacheriah’s brother, was trapped inside the vehicle. 

According to the affidavit, Zacheriah Cain admitted to consuming alcoholic beverages before the crash. He was read the Indiana Implied Consent but refused to submit to a chemical test. 

Dontaye Cain was pronounced deceased at the scene from injuries sustained in the crash.

Evidence at the scene suggested that Zacheriah Cain was operating the 2021 gray Mitsubishi southbound on SR 13 across US 30 and lost control of the vehicle south of the intersection.

The vehicle went off the roadway, colliding with a mailbox, trees and two residences.

A search warrant affidavit was approved in order to obtain a sample of blood for completion of a certified test for intoxication on Zacheriah Cain.

He was taken to Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne for treatment of injuries and submitted to a blood sample for testing at 2:20 a.m. 

The result of the certified chemical test indicated that Zacheriah Cain had a BAC equivalent to .214 grams of alcohol per 100 millimeters of his blood at the time of the crash. 

Zacheriah Cain told police he was driving a rental car and was heading to Goshen at the time of the crash.

According to Missouri court records, Zacheriah Cain was previously convicted of two counts of involuntary manslaughter in September 2012  after a 2011 accident that killed an elderly couple. He is currently on parole in that case.

Zacheriah Cain was 16 at the time and driving a Pontiac Sunfire when the crash happened east of Moscow Mills, Mo. According to a story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Pontiac Sunfire crested a hill and struck the back of an all-terrain vehicle.

The ATV driver, Victor K. Harrell, 81, of Moscow Mills, died at the scene. Harrell’s wife, Virginia, 82, a passenger in the ATV, died a short time later at an area hospital.

Zacheriah Cain was charged with two counts of first-degree involuntary manslaughter after an investigation by the Missouri Highway Patrol revealed that he had been traveling at a high rate of speed and was under the influence of alcohol.