COURT HOUSE – A man accused in a hit-and-run accident that left an 80-year-old woman dead in the street was indicted by a grand jury March 28.
The Cape May County grand jury returned a true bill, finding probable cause to charge Hugo Michael Maucher with a second-degree count of leaving the scene of an accident involving death and a second-degree count for violating a public health and safety law for failing to render aid.
Maucher, of Marmora, was ordered held in jail pending trial by Judge J. Christopher Gibson during a detention hearing in Cape May County Superior Court Jan. 12.
Maucher turned himself in to police five days after he allegedly hit the woman, Marjorie Straubmuller, on Stagecoach Road, in Seaville, and proceeded to get out of his car, look at her laying in the street, and then get back in his SUV and drive off.
Straubmuller, who an investigation revealed was likely walking in the lane of traffic, was flown to a hospital where she was pronounced dead from her injuries.
Witnesses gave police a partial plate and description of the vehicle, which allegedly matched Maucher’s Jeep Grand Cherokee, and worked with a sketch artist who published a composite image of the suspect. It was after the sketch was released that Maucher turned himself in.
Prosecutors had said police found an empty beer bottle and a beer carton in the roadway near the scene. They told the judge at Maucher’s detention hearing that they didn’t have sufficient evidence at that point to charge Maucher with DUI, but said an investigation was ongoing.
Prosecutors have not filed charges accusing Maucher of being drunk at the time of the accident.
Maucher will be arraigned April 14. A conviction on a second-degree crime can carry five to 10 years in state prison.
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