Skidmore charged with homicide in 2017 fatal crash

William Joseph Skidmore was in the Hill County Detention Center this morning facing a felony charge of vehicular homicide while under the influence stemming from an Aug. 15, 2017, crash near the Havre cemetery that killed Jason Skidmore.

William Skidmore was charged Friday after new evidence processed this month proved a woman he said was driving the car at the time of the crash could not have been the driver.

Skidmore was arrested Tuesday and was being held this morning on the vehicular homicide charge on a $50,000 bond.

He is scheduled for an arraignment hearing, in which defendants usually enter their initial plea to the charges, Monday.

A court document said law enforcement officers responded to a call from William Skidmore Aug. 15, 2017, shortly after midnight, reporting a crash on Ninth Street West.

Officers found a gray 2011 Chevrolet Impala which had struck a tree.

A woman, to whom the car was registered, and Jason Skidmore were in the vehicle, the document said.

William Skidmore was lying several yards away from the vehicle.

Officers saw a large amount of alcohol inside the Impala, the document said.

The document said Skidmore told the officers an unkown female had been driving the car and “started driving crazy,” spinning in a circle, after which he jumped out and then the car struck the tree.

Skidmore said the woman then left the vehicle and ran away, the document said. He later gave the name of the woman he said had been driving.

William Skidmore and Jason Skidmore were taken to the hospital and then flown to a Great Falls hospital, where Jason Skidmore was pronounced dead at about 10:10 a.m., the document said.

The woman in the car had to be extracted using a hydraulic rescue tool to open the door.

Officers took a sample of what appeared to blood from the driver’s side air bag to be used for DNA analysis.

The woman William Skidmore named as the driver told officers she had not been in the vehicle and had no apparent injuries consistent with being in a car crash, the document said. She provided a sample to be used for DNA analysis.

The Montana State Crime Lab analyzed her sample June 16 and the forensic analyst concluded she could be excluded as a possible source of the stain on the driver’s side air bag, the document said.