Hammond, IN: Husband questioned after wife hit by car, dies

January 18, 2010
BY DIANE KRIEGER SPIVAK, (219) 648-3076
HAMMOND -- A Hammond man was questioned and released after the car he was driving early Sunday morning struck and killed his wife.

And alcohol may have been involved in the death, police say.

Lake County Coroner Thomas Philpot pronounced Jennifer Wilkins-Puentez, 27, dead at the scene at 5915 Columbia Avenue, Hammond at 4:43 a.m., a coroner's department spokesperson said Sunday afternoon.

Wilkins-Puentez, of the 1100 block of Summer Street, died from multiple blunt force trauma from being struck by a vehicle, the spokesperson said.

Police Department spokesman Lt. Richard Hoyda said Wilkins-Puentez' husband, age 30, of the same address, had been driving the car.

Passersby had called police, he said.

"It's not clear yet whether it was an accident," Hoyda said. "We believe there was some kind of domestic argument. It was unclear whether she tried to get out of the car. The information was that he was the driver when she was hit."

Hoyda said the man tested positive for alcohol, but did not have the test's reading readily available.

No charges had been filed as of Sunday afternoon.

A police investigator said the case will likely be taken to the Lake County Prosecutor's office on Tuesday for further review, Hoyda said.

"The case is still being assembled," Hoyda said.