A third person has been indicted in connection to a December car crash that killed four Maine Maritime students.
Noelle Tavares of Massachusetts was indicted Friday by a Hancock County grand jury on 13 counts, including four counts of manslaughter and criminal OUI, among other charges.
Tavares, who was 20-years-old at the time of the crash, was one of three people who survived the crash. Joshua Goncalves-Radding of New York, who was driving the car, and Dominick Gecoya of Massachusetts, who owned the car, were indicted on the same charges.
A warrant has been issued for Tavares’ arrest, said Robert Granger, district attorney for Hancock County.
“The eight-month investigation uncovered additional evidence which the Grand Jury determined gave rise to probable cause to believe that Noelle Tavares aided in the unlawful conduct which directly contributed to the tragic crash and the deaths of the four young men,” Granger said.
State law allows criminal charges for those involved even if they weren’t driving under a provision known as accomplice liability, according to Granger.
The charges against Gecoya were dismissed Friday, Granger said.
“The known facts that developed during the on-going investigation no longer supported felony counts against him as owner of the vehicle,” Granger said. “A dismissal was appropriate in the interest of justice.”
The crash occurred just after 2 a.m. on Dec. 10, 2022. Seven students were in the vehicle traveling south on Route 166 when it left the roadway and hit a tree before “erupting into flames,” Maine State Police spokesperson Shannon Moss said at the time.
Seven MMA students were in the vehicle when it hit a tree and burst into flames, police have said. Goncalves-Radding was estimated to be driving between 106 and 111 mph at the time, Granger said previously.
Killed in the crash were Brian Kenealy, 20, of York; Chase Fossett, 21, of Gardiner; Luke Simpson, 22, of Rockport, Massachusetts; and Riley Ignacio-Cameron, 20, of Aquinnah, Massachusetts.
Correction: An early version of this story misspelled Dominick Gecoya’s first name.