Family copes with loss, follows investigation of daughter’s death

By Kate McCardell

Published: May 10, 2008

Scot Black couldn’t get past four letters: M-a-r-y.

He typed the name of his daughter in an attempt to write her high school yearbook letter, but the hands that once held his child now held no words.

“It was too much. I wrote her name and it sat there like that for a month. It was so hard,” said Black.

His daughter is dead. The yearbook letter was not the typical celebratory type, rather a farewell to his only girl, who died last year in a car accident that has resulted in criminal charges against the driver.

The Black family: Scot, his wife Cristina and their son Chris, are learning to mourn. They’re trying to get used to the painfully quiet house, the heart-stopping moments of hope, the rumors and the frustration of following the investigation of the crash that took Mary.

“I’m not out to see some crazy vengeance,” said Scot. “Me and Cristina, all we want is the truth. We want to know the truth of how we lost her.”

Most recently, the State Attorney’s Office ordered a DNA test on the driver’s blood sample, an attempt to ease the Blacks’ concerns that there may have been tampering of the driver’s blood sample.

The day Mary died

By all accounts, Mary Black was ready for her future.

It was a Friday in June of 2007 and she was a star player on the Malone High School basketball team. Her grades were going up. She was about to be a senior.

In her bedroom, student loan applications sat on her bed, along with a birthday present from her parents.

“Find what you love, love what you find,” read a note she had written on her wall in pencil.

A car crash the next morning would be the end of Mary’s young life, making her student loan applications moot and the dream of finding love drowned out by the sound of ambulance sirens.

“She had just got back from basketball camp and she wanted to go sleep over her friends’ house,” said Scot Black. “Her birthday was two days earlier, so we gave her her present, she had opened it, said thank you, set it on her bed and then she went out.”

That was the last time the Blacks saw Mary alive.

It was about 2.am.the next morning when the car in which Mary was riding left the hill on Berkshire Road and crashed into the woods.

According to the initial crash report from Florida Highway Patrol, the incident occurred when the driver, listed as 16-year-old Gabriel Sanchez, lost control of the vehicle as it crested the hill, causing the vehicle to rotate and slide into the road’s shoulder and collide in the rear of the vehicle with a large tree. The collision caused the vehicle to overturn.

Three other teenagers were listed as passengers in the vehicle: Miriam Estella Ramirez, 15, who suffered serious injuries; Katelyn DeRosier, 14, who suffered serious injuries; and Michael Rodriguez, 16, who spent time hospitalized in critical condition from his injuries.

The report said alcohol was a factor in the crash, and none of those involved were wearing seatbelts.
“When we got the call and went to the hospital, we were told that this case was going to be taken very seriously. It would be dealt with quickly and properly. But from June to January, we heard nothing,” said Scot Black.

The alcohol factor

Mary was a healthy girl. Her autopsy, an extensive examination performed on her body by a person she’d never met, reveals so.
It also says she wasn’t drunk at the time of the crash.

“The report also shows no alcohol in the blood and .004 g/dL of ethanol in the urine which would be consistent with a small amount of alcohol consumed and completely absorbed by the body and passed into the urine probably a few hours before death,” explained Wade Mercer, an attorney representing the family. “The reason we know it was consumed a few hours before death is if it were being consumed immediately prior to death, there would be some still in the blood that was not absorbed into the tissue or urine yet.”

According to Jackson County court documents, an article about the crash found on the Jackson County Floridan Web site prompted an investigation by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco.

That investigation resulted in charges against two Jackson County men and a Marianna liquor store, as previously reported. A juvenile was subsequently charged with three counts of distributing cannabis, a felony.

“Reading all that and hearing things around town, I was surprised when I read that the driver had no alcohol on his system,” said Scot Black.
A breath test, according to highway patrol, was not administered at the time of the crash.

A toxicology report on the driver, released by the State Attorney’s Office, shows no ethyl alcohol or drugs in the driver’s blood specimen.
The blood test was drawn at Doctors Memorial Hospital, about four and a half hours after the incident occurred. No urine test was administered.

Ensuring truth

“I was over there fighting because I believed in my country. I believe in the system. When we lost Mary, we decided we’d keep our faith in the system. With the way things are going, I’m starting to lose that faith. I wish I was back in Baghdad. At least there I knew who my enemies were,” said Black.

Black said he and his wife have spent the last 10 months since their daughter’s death wondering and wishing they could somehow ensure that the truth, whatever it is, is brought to light.

“I don’t know how these things, these death investigations go around here, but being in the military I have a good idea of chain of custody and things like that. I just want to see things done right. And how can I if no one will talk to us? The soonest the State Attorney’s Office actually met with us was January of this year. I think we got one message from their victim’s advocate, but that was it,” said Black.

Grammer confirmed that a victim’s advocate had left a message at the Black residence and that Assistant State Attorney Mark Sims visited the Blacks at their home in January.

“As far as communication with the Black family goes, we’re not the investigating agency. Once we obtained the investigation from Florida Highway Patrol, which was lengthy and appears to be thorough, we made an effort to keep the Black family informed, including Mark Sims going out and visiting the family in their home. We’re making an effort to keep them informed and we’re going forward with the prosecution,” said Grammer.

This spring, concerned over rumors that the driver’s blood test had been tampered with, the Blacks requested a DNA test on the sample.
The State Attorney’s Office at first agreed to the test, but later rescinded, citing budget limitations, and the Blacks were told that they would have to pay for a DNA test themselves if they wished to do so.

On May 9, Chief Assistant State Attorney Joe Grammer confirmed that the State Attorney’s Office is now requesting the DNA testing.

“At the request of the family, in respect to their wish that there is further confidence in the tests done on the blood, we’re going to ask that the law enforcement agency send off for a DNA test and ask Florida Department of Law Enforcement do the tests to confirm the providence of that blood,” said Grammer.

Grammer said that the testing should not interfere with the arraignment of the driver, facing a felony charge in juvenile court. The arraignment is scheduled July 9.

Mourning Mary

“I’m glad that they’re doing the right thing,” said Black. “But Cristina and I know that, whatever the results are, Mary’s still gone.”
Scot has worn a black shirt every day since his daughter’s death.

Upholding Cristina’s Pilipino heritage, the family will openly mourn Mary for one year.

A shrine of sorts is set up near their front door, with pictures and candles. At the edge of the table is a plate of food, restocked every day with whatever the family ate.

“It’s for me to feed my baby,” said Cristina. “It’s because she can longer enjoy what I eat, so I take some of my meal and sort of share it with her.”

On the 30th of every month, the family and friends hold a prayer session at their house.

Every Sunday, Scot and Cristina bring flowers and other items to the hill on Berkshire Road, where a memorial has been growing with visits from the Blacks and Mary’s friends.

They haven’t touched Mary’s room, where the birthday present still sits on her bed and her basketball camp clothes remain in a hamper, below a wall full of pictures of Mary, alive and full of dreams.