Less than a few years had passed since high school. Not that many. They were still in their twenties only she had a young child -a five-year-old daughter. They were happy to have found each other again. They were happy. They were joyous. They were free. They felt a future awaited them both -together.

Sebastian had picked up a trade -a good trade. . . a scarce trade. The oil fields needed him. So, when he found Harmonia again, he felt complete. He felt fulfilled.

They returned to El Paso to visit family, briefly. Friends and family were excited. The short days were filled with conviviality. Food. Family. More food. Drink. The night scene added to the excitement.

Driving home, it was believed Sebastian took the same familiar route. Though late, the hot Summer night lent itself to the night air. They opened the sunroof. Or, moonroof, as the case may be. Suddenly! A passenger car, seemingly out of nowhere, t-boned their SUV from the passenger side. The impact was so powerful the SUV in which the young couple traveled rolled several times. . . Sebastian and Harmony were thrown from the car through the open sunroof. 

When the ambulances arrived they found the SUV upside down. A tire was still spinning. Sebastian was unconscious and lay about fifty feet away. Face down. Harmonia was on the other side and almost as far. She was dead. Although, Sebastian was unaware of this fact. He was rushed to the hospital.

When the driver -Sebastian, came to, police guards were just outside his room. They were waiting to arrest him for intoxicated manslaughter. His blood alcohol was triple the legal limit. Law enforcement had an adult witness who stated HE had handed Sebastian the keys to Sebastian's SUV AND watched Sebastian drive away with Harmonia in the passenger seat. The police said he ran a stop light, as well. The intersecting passenger car had the right of way.

How could this be?! Sebastian couldn't remember anything not even drinking. He apparently experienced a blackout. His cousin confirmed they shared an entire quart of the "hard stuff" at the nightclub. Even so, Sebastian always had Harmonia drive if he was going to drink. What happened?!

Our agency was brought in to investigate. Once in the field, the sites visited informed our agent the police had just been there investigating the same thing. On occasion, our investigator was either ahead or explored areas the police considered irrelevant.

Our agency learned there were photo-enforced cameras where the impact occurred but, NOT where Sebastian would have allegedly ran a "red light". Thus it was impossible to know, as the police asserted, whether the SUV driver violated any traffic laws. Of course, the passenger vehicle said they had the green light.

There was a major time gap between the time the adult witness saw Sebastian drive off -as THE driver! A forty minute gap between this observation AND the point of impact. The route of travel was obvious -almost a direct, intuitive, straight path. Under normal circumstance it was a 9 to 15 minute drive. . . NOT forty!

Could Sebastian and Harmonia have stopped at a convenience store for something and, THEN, Harmonia took over the driving? Neither the government's investigators nor our agent could find ANY video at ANY of the stores along the way home. There was no video showing they entered! Could they have stopped somewhere else to share a few private moments together? The question remained. WHO was driving?!

A "discreet" visit to the SUV found the interior heavily spotted with blood. On the seats. On the dash. On the ceiling. On the floor board. Smeared through the sunroof edges. The safety belts were locked in position. The seat positions revealed nothing as centrifugal force can rattle seemingly immovable objects out of place.

Prior to THE trial for intoxicated manslaughter, at a hearing to revoke Sebastian's driver's license for driving while impaired, his defense called the principal government investigating officer. He frustratingly and reluctantly admitted what the defense already knew. There was blood splatter throughout the interior AND it belonged to BOTH Sebastian and Harmonia. Blood for each was on BOTH sides of the interior which is consistent with persons bouncing around the interior of a rolling vehicle. It was impossible to determine where each person was sitting just before impact.

The prosecution was forced dropped the charges.  There existed reasonable doubt as to whether Sebastian was driving. In that 40 minute gap between the adult witness and the point of impact, Harmonia could have taken over the driving. And what of the blood?