Police find wrecker driver involved in fatal towing

A little news in the story of the Baytown woman who was killed late Saturday while her car was being towed from the RV park where she lived: First of all, according to the Chronicle, her name was Cathy Deemer Soileau, not Cathy Regina Deemer as was originally reported. The Harris County Medical Examiner's office figured out her true name using DPS fingerprint records; according to medical examiner's office spokeswoman Jennifer Coston, Deemer was listed as an alias Soileau, 53, used.

The bigger news, though, is that investigators have tracked down the wrecker driver, who fled the scene after Soileau fell off her car and hit her head on the ground. The Baytown Sun reports that Harris County sheriff's deputies found the towed 2001 Mercury Grand Marquis — which belongs to Soileau's ex-husband — near the Sheldon Reservoir off Highway 90 and contacted the tow truck driver, who denied any involvement at first. "Initially, he denied having any involvement in the incident," sheriff's Lt. John Martin said. "But after additional questioning, he admitted that he had gone out there to tow the vehicle." According to KPRC, the driver told investigators he didn't know anything about Soileau's death, but the manager of the Lazy Acres RV park told the Sun she doubts that's true. "There is no way the driver [of the wrecker] couldn't hear those screams, even in the cab of the truck — everybody heard them," the park manager said. "And he had to have seen me when I came out there, but he just kept on going. He didn't care."

What happened was this, in case you haven't heard: The driver showed up around 11 p.m. Saturday to tow Soileau's ex-husband's car, which another Lazy Acres resident said the ex had been trying to get for months. Soileau went outside and tried to stop the driver from taking the car, and in the process she somehow latched onto the car, though investigators don't know exactly how that happened. "It was not clear if she climbed on top of the vehicle or was hanging onto the vehicle, or what she was doing," Martin said. Some witnesses apparently said Soileau was dragged some distance by the truck, but it's not clear whether police have verified that.

In any case, Soileau eventually fell off the car; though she was alive and conscious at the scene, she died later at San Jacinto Methodist Hospital in Baytown. The RV park manager, who didn't want to be identified, said she went outside to see what was going on when she heard Soileau screaming — the same screams, she said, that she heard when Soileau's ex-husband used to hit her. "She was a good person, a good Christian woman," the park manager told the Sun. "She was the type that would get up in your face if that's what had to be done, but she would never hurt anyone. She loved her grandkids. This is just not right."