It appears Krystal Bailey, 29, of Barre drowned Sunday night in Plainfield as she and a Morrisville woman, Allie Duda, 29, tried to get away from police after their car went off the road.
An intensive search turned up evidence indicating Bailey was unable to get out of the river, and was likely swept downstream.
Searchers found several personal items belonging to Bailey as they searched the Great Brook and a significant portion of the Winooski River in Plainfield. The waterways were running high, swollen by melting snow.
The search for Bailey was continuing this week along the Winooski River in Plainfield and in towns downriver. Participants have included Vermont State Police, the Army National Guard, Colchester Technical Rescue, Stowe Mountain Rescue, and the Plainfield, Marshfield and East Montpelier fire departments. Police also brought in a U.S. Border Patrol helicopter and a drone, but fast-moving water and low visibility made the search difficult.
Anyone with information is asked to call state police at 802-229-9191.
Duda, the driver, has been charged with driving under the influence. Police measured her blood-alcohol level at 0.167 percent, double the 0.08 that’s proof of intoxication. She’s due in Washington County Superior Court on March 16. After her arrest, she was taken to the Chittenden County Correctional Facility to be detoxed.
Duda pleaded guilty last July in Lamoille County Superior Court to leaving the scene of an accident. She was sentenced to serve one to two days, but got credit for two days spent in jail while awaiting trial. In August 2012 in the same court, she pleaded guilty to DUI and was fined $300.
Police say the accident happened at 8:50 p.m. on a rainy night on Brook Road, near Cameron Road in Plainfield. Investigators concluded that Duda was driving a 2004 Ford Taurus down Brook Road toward Plainfield village when she lost control of the vehicle and it slammed into a guardrail, causing heavy front-end damage.
When rescue workers arrived, they saw Duda and Bailey, a passenger in Duda’s car, walking away from the accident.
Rescue workers briefly lost sight of the two women as they assessed the crash. Duda was located a short time later on the bank of the Lower Great Brook; she had gone into the water, but emerged.
Police believe that Bailey went into the brook, as well, but that fast-moving water pulled her downstream.
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