By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph Police have confirmed that Cody Grace died as a result of a car accident on April 9 - the same accident that killed Amy Morse and her three young children.
Grace’s body was found floating in standing water late Thursday in a ditch in the 2900 block of Pear Street - the same location of that fatal crash.
St. Joseph Police captain Jeff Wilson said the crash scene and a thorough, subsequent search of the scene gave no indication that Grace had been in the car, or was ejected from it.
He says Grace’s body seems to have fallen out of the car as it was being pulled out of the ditch.
"The manner in which we had to wait and lift that vehicle up out of there," Wilson said, "all indications is that he was in the vehicle and somehow came out of the vehicle when the vehicle was being manipulated to try and get it out of there."
Two vehicles collided around 11 p.m. on the night of April 9, and the vehicle carrying Morse, Grace and the three young kids overturned and became submerged in about four feet of water.
Wilson says the official cause of death for all five individuals is drowning.
"There was no sign of an ejection or anything to make (authorities) believe that anyone had been sitting in the front passenger seat," Wilson said. "But, they searched just in case."
A missing person's report was filed for Grace on April 13. The person who filed the report says Grace sent a text message on the night of April 9 about a half-hour before the crash. That text was the last activity police could find on Grace's cellphone, according to Wilson.
Grace’s body was first discovered by someone who went out to the crash scene to display flowers on Thursday. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.
A fundraiser for the family has been set up on Facebook.
"My heart goes out to that family," Wilson said. "I understand this is extremely difficult for them. I'm glad we were able to bring some sort of closure versus not locating him. I wish it had been a different outcome. Our department is extremely sorry for their family, and we hope for recovery for them."