Students attend a memorial for Beth Speidel at St. Mary Catholic Parish Monday evening.
Preceding a memorial service being held in her memory Monday evening at St. Mary Catholic Parish on High Street, five Miami University sophomores were charged in connection with sophomore Beth Speidel's consumption of alcohol.
Speidel; a 19-year-old transfer student from Strongsville, Ohio; was hit and killed by a CSX train April 14 at the Locust Street crossing in Oxford.
Four of the students - Danielle E. Davis, Christine A. Carr, Kathleen A. Byrne and Kristina K. Sicker - are being charged with permitting underage consumption at an unnamed off-campus residence, while Maureen E. Grady is being charged with furnishing alcohol to Speidel at an unnamed uptown liquor establishment. All are sophomores and underage.
All five students are scheduled to appear in Butler County Area I Court May 3. They could face a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine for their misdemeanor charges.
Sgt. Jim Squance of the Oxford Police Department (OPD) explained that detectives traced back the approximate events of Speidel's evening, using information gained from people she was in touch with that night.
"We need to have ample, probable cause to arrest, cite anyone ... we had that (information) here," Squance said.
He added that the investigation is ongoing and that more charges could possibly be filed in the future.
Squance explained that Speidel was at an off-campus apartment early in the evening and left for uptown approximately at 11:30 p.m.
OPD then believes Speidel left uptown bars a little after 1 a.m. April 14.
According to police reports, Speidel was struck by a CSX eastbound freight train passing through Oxford at 1:45 a.m.
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According to a preliminary report issued by the Butler County Coroner, a westbound Amtrak train passed over her body at approximately 3:20 a.m. and the engineer of that train stopped, walked back and found Speidel lying between the rails approximately 20 yards east of the Locust Street crossing.
A student ID and cell phone were found at the scene. The coroner determined Speidel died of head trauma.
In addition, a toxicology report determined that her blood alcohol level was .229.
Yet exactly what occurred between the time Speidel left the bars and the time the CSX train passed through Oxford is still unknown.
"There is no further information on how or why (she got to the intersection)," Squance said.
Gary Sease; a representative from CSX Transportation, Inc.; said that the corporation is conducting a follow-up investigation on the accident, yet cannot release any details to anyone outside of the Federal Railroad Administration until its completion - which could take anywhere from one week to six months.
"I don't know what information has been collected (at this point)," Sease said.
Sease said the investigation may look into the information stored on the event recorder - which looks at information such as the break pattern of the train - and a toxicology report of the engineer.
Yet Squance said that there was no evidence of the engineer of being under the influence of any substances. Additionally, OPD does not believe there was any foul play surrounding the incident. The crossing does have working warning lights and a gate.
Susan Vaughn, director of the Office of Ethics and Student Conflict Resolution, explained that even though she cannot comment on anything in regards to specific student cases, she can say if these charges were brought against students that the office would follow normal procedures outlined in the Code of Student Conduct.
Vaughn explained that anytime there is a police report with allegations that a student may have violated the Code of Conduct, the office gives the student the option of accepting responsibility or holding a hearing.
These five students could be charged with Prohibited Use of Alcohol, Section 02.105.B, which is a Code One offense.
And according to the Code of Student Conduct, "The minimum penalty for a first offense (of Prohibited Use of Alcohol) is required attendance at a two-hour substance abuse program designed to acquaint students with their civil and legal responsibilities as well as the personal and career implications of alcohol and other substance abuse. There will be a minimum charge of $50 to the student for the program."
Vaughn added that her office sees an approximate of 1,800-2,000 total cases a year, with alcohol related incidents contributing greatly to this number.
"Underage consumption is the largest, if not the second to largest (that we see)," Vaughn said, adding that noise violations are high on the list as well.
Additional reporting contributed by Kellyn Moran.
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