A 30-year-old man from Newark has been charged with vehicular homicide in connection with the death of 27-year-old Jorge Valladeres, whose body was found on the shoreline of the St. Jones River by a group of kayakers on July 2.
The arrest comes over three weeks after Valladeres first went missing.
The Dover Police Department said that Luis Cuello was driving east in a Jeep Wrangler on Water Street near the Del-One Federal Credit Union on June 21. Valladeres and an unidentified 41-year-old man were in the car with Cuello at 11:21 p.m. when police said he failed to brake at a “sharp left curve” and drove over the curb.
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The Jeep flipped multiple times as it rolled down an embankment, ending up by the St. Jones River. None of the men were wearing seatbelts, and Cuello was driving under the influence, according to Dover police.
Police said they believe that Valladeres was thrown out of the vehicle in the crash, landing in the river. He also sustained a traumatic brain injury, an autopsy later showed. The current carried Valladeres a “significant distance,” according to police. When the kayakers found him, Valladeres’ body was almost 650 feet away from where police said he fell into the river.
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The crash was reported at 4:17 a.m. on June 22, about 5 hours after the incident occurred. Both Cuello and the 41-year-old passenger were taken to Bayhealth Kent Campus with “non-life threatening” injuries, according to Dover police. Neither reported to officials that Valladeres was also in the car with them.
Cuello was arrested and charged with second-degree vehicular homicide on Thursday. He has been incarcerated on a $7,000 secured bond.
Send story tips or ideas to Hannah Edelman at hedelman@delawareonline.com. For more reporting, follow them on Twitter at @h_edelman.
