Driver of SUV that hit Houston pipeline

HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle reports that the driver of the SUV that investigators believe caused the Deer Park pipeline fire earlier this month has been identified as a 51-year-old La Porte man, according to a Deer Park news release. The Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office identified Jonathan McEvoy as the driver of the 2022 Lexus NX350 that struck an above-ground pipeline valve earlier this month, leading to a fire that burned for more than three days and prompted evacuations in the immediate area. Investigators utilized a technique called radiography comparison to identify McEvoy’s remains, according to the release. A police spokesperson said investigators were left with only a partial skeleton by the time the flames subsided.

Radiography comparison, according to a study published in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, is a technique that uses x-ray scans of skeletal remains to identify them. Similar to a fingerprint, an individual’s bone structure is unique and can be used even in advanced states of decomposition to determine identity. The events that lead up to McEvoy’s death are still under investigation, according to the City of Deer Park Police Department. Chad Richard, who witnessed the crash, told ABC13 that he and his wife watched as the SUV McEvoy’s remains were found in veered wildly through a chain link face and into the valve. His wife, Sherry Richard, said the vehicle caught their eye after they saw it was moving suspiciously slow. “It caught our eye because the car was moving so slow as we passed it,” Sherry Richard said.