'A tough case': Judge rules against family trying to reopen probe into mysterious deaths
The family of a Jackson County woman found dead with her boyfriend in a submerged pickup truck suffered a legal setback in their years-long fight to reopen the case and prove whether she was murdered.
Okaloosa Circuit Judge John Jay Gontarek ruled against a request by Tarina White’s surviving family members to force the state medical examiner to change her death certificate — a move they hoped would trigger a new investigation.
In 2016, the bodies of White and her boyfriend, Billy Pullam, were discovered by fisherman who happened to spot their pickup truck in 12 feet of water on Compass Lake in rural Jackson County. Both the Florida Highway Patrol and Dr. Jay Radtke, state medical examiner for the 14th District, concluded that the two drowned after accidentally driving into the lake.
Their families, however, have long believed the two were killed by people involved in the drug and criminal world and the crash scene staged. Last year, White’s family sued Radtke and the State Medical Examiner’s Commission, seeking to amend her death certificate so that it would list the cause of her death as undetermined.
During a June 5 hearing in Crestview, Fred Flowers, a Tallahassee attorney representing White’s family, asked Gontarek to issue a writ of mandamus requiring Radtke to change the death certificate. Citing the Declaration of Independence, the Florida Constitution and state statutes, Flowers argued the family had a right to know exactly how she died.
But Radtke’s lawyer, Julie Ann Sombathy of Panama City, said such writs could be used to compel “purely ministerial” government acts only rather than discretionary ones inherent in medical examiner work. Gontarek, in a June 29 order, sided with Sombathy. He dismissed the family’s petition with prejudice and denied its request for attorney’s fees.
“The petitioner’s argument that the decedent had a right to know how she died is novel but unsupported by any law cited by the petitioner,” Gontarek wrote. “The petitioner’s action was not frivolous, however, just simply unsupported by the facts.”
Despite the ruling, the family is pressing ahead. Flowers last month filed a motion asking Gontarek to reconsider, based in part on preliminary findings from new independent autopsy stating that White died of asphyxiation that occurred “probably at the hands of another.”
“It’s clearly a murder,” Flowers said in an interview with the Tallahassee Democrat. “But on the law, it’s a tough case. We’ll have to see what the judge is going to do.”
'Consider this plea of help'
White, 46, and Pullam, 60, were last seen April 1, 2016, buying beer at a package store near the lake. After their truck was found two days later, FHP conducted an investigation, including a re-enactment of the crash, ultimately concluding it was an accident caused by careless driving in dark and rainy conditions.
White and Pullam’s families pleaded with law enforcement to investigate further, but the case was officially closed. White’s sister, Kimbra Williams, enlisted a private forensic pathologist, Dr. Daniel Schultz, who opined that accidental drowning was “extremely unlikely” but that dual homicide was “very reasonable to consider.”
Schultz noted the “striking” position of the bodies were found in the truck, with White on the floorboard, her hands placed across her chest in a “casket position,” and Pullam across the bench seat. But Radtke, who met with the family, said Schultz’s review was full of inaccuracies and conjecture.
In May, White’s remains were exhumed so that Schultz could conduct his own autopsy. He wrote in a preliminary autopsy summary that he had “high concern” for homicide and expressed suspicions that White was smothered or strangled.
“The only way I can envision that final answers may come are through a comprehensive due diligence police investigation,” Schultz wrote. “I would ask the court to consider this plea of help.”
Schultz’s latest report was included in Flowers’ July 14 motion for a rehearing. Sombathy, in response, wrote that Flowers' motion has “no new facts, just old facts which have been addressed by the appropriate regulatory authorities” and asked the judge to deny it.
Williams said she wishes the judge will hear testimony from medical experts on both sides before deciding.
"(Tarina) has a case number attached to her name now," Williams said. "She’s much more than that. We love her, and we want justice for her. She deserves the truth. We deserve the truth also.”
Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida judge won't reopen case after 2 found dead in submerged truck
