Suspect's truck was stolen in fatal hit-and-run crash

DAHLONEGA - Even more charges could be coming to the suspect in Monday night's deadly hit and run accident on Cavender Creek Road in Dahlonega.

Lumpkin County Sheriff's Lt. Wesley Burnett said the truck being driven by 46-year-old Jody Shane Kitchens at the time of the crash was actually stolen.

"It was actually reported back in 2010 as a stolen vehicle out of the City of Lawrenceville," he said.

Burnett said Kitchens fled into the woods on foot after the crash and wasn't apprehended until the following morning.

"He had been seen by witnesses that had arrived on scene leaving the accident through the woods on foot," he said.

Burnett said authorities searched for Kitchens throughout the night and apprehended him around 8 a.m. Tuesday a short distance from the accident scene.

Officials with Grady Memorial Hospital said the passenger in the other car, 21-year-old Jeffrey Caleb Welch, remains in serious but stable condition. The driver of that car, 19-year-old Hannah Thompson Culbreth, was killed.

Burnett said Culbreth's infant daughter, who was in the backseat of the car at the time of the 7 p.m. crash, was virtually unharmed.

Cavender Creek Road was closed for about three hours Monday night while authorities worked the scene.

Burnett said the Georgia State Patrol is handling the investigation.