MATLACHA, Fla. — Florida Highway Patrol says 24-year-old Cody J. Curtis was taken into custody Monday morning and charged with DUI manslaughter, in the death of 80-year-old Mary Lou Sharpe. Troopers say he also hit four other people sitting outside That BBQ Place the night of the fatal crash.
“I had a feeling the arrest would happen, I wasn’t nervous that it wouldn’t," said Kimberly Franklin, owner of Salty Strands, located just steps from That BBQ Place. "Knowing the name doesn’t change anything but the fact that there will be justice for Mary Lou and the others that are injured is a good feeling.”
Troopers say Curtis’s blood alcohol concentration was .137% the night of the crash.
They say he was driving east on Pine Island Road the evening of April 13 when he veered off the road and hit five people who were sitting at tables outside of the That BBQ Place.
Sharpe was killed and four other people were injured.
Curtis was placed under arrest for DUI Manslaughter, three counts of DUI Serious Bodily Injury, one count of DUI Property Damage, and one count of DUI Injury.
He was booked into the Lee County Jail and is expected to appear for the first time in front of a judge on Tuesday morning.
As Curtis sits in jail, a memorial sits and grows where Mary Lou and the four other victims sat that night.
“Listen, this island is resilient," said Whitney Hall, a long-time friend of Mary Lou and Butch Gay. "I’ve been all over the world, I’ve been all over this country, I’ve never seen a more resilient people. Him being arrested doesn’t replace anything and everybody still has feelings about it."
