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Driver Finally Charged For 17-year Old's Death

November 23, 2005

In Port St. Lucie, three weeks after 17-year-old Robert 'Bobb' DeCara was killed on his driveway as he was walking to the bus stop to school, investigators Jim Olson and Scott Johnson visited the DeCara residence with some news. 'I already knew what it was about,' Duane DeCara, Bobb's father, said about seeing the two police officers on his doorstep along Darwin Boulevard. Olson and Johnson told DeCara they were on their way to the house of Joy Snedden to arrest her in the death of his son.

Then they arrested the 41-year-old woman at her home on Elba Street, just on the other side of Darwin, on four felony counts: manslaughter while driving under the influence, driving under the influence with serious bodily injury, leaving the scene of an accident involving a death and driving with a suspended license involving a death. 'I don't think closure is going to happen for a while,' DeCara said of his reaction to the news. 'There is a bit of relief as far as having this woman off the streets.' Investigators said they had to await toxicology results before arresting Snedden. She had a history of prescription-drug abuse, and investigators said she had dilated pupils and appeared 'lethargic' and 'erratic' at the accident scene.

Snedden, who has a suspended license for failing to pay traffic fines, was driving on Darwin in front of DeCara's home in the early morning darkness on Oct. 12 when her car veered off the road and struck two boys, killing Bobb DeCara, according to police reports. Investigators Tsaid toxicology results showed Snedden had three types of drugs in her system: methadone, Xanax and marijuana. While toxicology reports typically take up to two months to complete, Port St. Lucie authorities asked a Chicago laboratory to speed things up in order to arrest Snedden sooner. 'We knew this was a case of great community concern,' Police Chief John Skinner said.

Snedden was on a prescription for methadone to help with a previous addiction to oxycodone, a painkiller, investigators said. But Snedden wasn't prescribed Xanax, they said, and she had an amount of the tranquilizer in her system that was 'above the therapeutic range.' Snedden has been arrested nine times on charges related to prescription-drug abuse, according to records. The last time was in September for trying to doctor-shop Xanax, according to St. Lucie County court records. She was being held in the St. Lucie County jail in lieu of $130,000 bail, according to jail officials.

Authorities said Snedden was driving south on Darwin Boulevard around 6 a.m. on Oct. 12 when her black Ford Focus veered off the shoulder of the road, where 15-year-old Jean Mark Rony was walking to the bus stop. The car just clipped Rony's lower right leg, then continued in a path to where Bobb DeCara was standing 3 feet away from the road in the family driveway. According to the arrest report, DeCara crashed through Snedden's windshield before flying more than a 100 feet in the air. He landed in his front yard, where his father found him minutes after the accident. Duane DeCara said his son was already dead. The teens were neighbors, both attending Fort Pierce Central High School.

When investigators arrived at the accident scene, Snedden first lied to officers, telling them that her husband was driving and had left the scene to get another car, according to the arrest affidavit. Then, 'she claimed an armadillo came out in front of her and she swerved to avoid it,' Olson said. A witness identified as Travis Dale Jr. told investigators that he saw Snedden climb out of the swale where her wrecked Ford Focus plunged after the crash, saying, 'I hope they didn't call 911 because my driver's license is suspended' and asking to use his cellphone 'to call my husband so he can say he was driving,' according to the report. Snedden wasn't arrested then because police said they wanted to make sure more serious drug-related felony charges would hold up in court.

If police arrested Snedden for driving with a suspended license, there was a chance she could plead out that misdemeanor charge in court while investigators waited for toxicology results. If that happened, then the state attorney could not press additional charges related to the same incident.

In front of the DeCara home were reminders of the teen's last day. Fluorescent-colored markings showing where he dropped a piece of fruit and his cellphone are still painted on the driveway. A blue baseball cap hangs on a small cross planted in the front yard. Officer Johnson said the florescent paint will soon be wiped away. 'We're going to go out and clean that up so they don't have to see that anymore,' he said. 'I know I wouldn't want to see that.' Duane DeCara doesn't really notice it anymore, he said. He's planning a fund-raiser to get sidewalks paved along the street. His son, he said, 'would still be alive if there were sidewalks here, no question. 'There will always be reminders of Bobb, regardless of if there's marks on the driveway or not.'