'We want justice': Family of woman found dead in submerged truck asks judge to reopen case

CRESTVIEW — Tarina White’s family finally got their first day in court — a step they hope will force state of Florida investigators to take a new look into her mysterious death.

The bodies of White and her boyfriend, Billy Pullam, were discovered April 3, 2016, in the cab of his pickup truck submerged in the waters of Compass Lake in the small Jackson County town of Alford. Both the Florida Highway Patrol and the State Medical Examiner found that the pair got turned around on a dark and rainy night, drove into the lake and drowned.

But White and Pullam’s families never believed that. White’s family has been pushing for years to get the case reopened, including hiring a private medical examiner and attorneys, who also doubted the official account.

On June 5, Fred Flowers, a Tallahassee lawyer representing White’s family, asked Okaloosa Circuit Judge John Jay Gontarek to order the Medical Examiners Commission to change the cause, manner, time and place of death on White’s death certificate as unknown.

Flowers argued that FHP, which recreated the truck’s supposed crash into the lake, and Medical Examiner Jay Radtke, who conducted the autopsies, botched investigations into their deaths.

“They cannot be allowed to hide behind these gross errors and inaccuracies,” Flowers said as more than a dozen of White’s family members watched from the front row of the courthouse. “We believe that they were murdered. We want relief for the family. We want justice.”

Julie Ann Sombathy, a private Panama City lawyer representing Radtke, argued that what Flowers seeks — a writ of mandamus ordering the medical examiner to fulfill his duties — is an option only for “purely ministerial” acts with no “elements of discretion.” She said medical examiners routinely use their discretion during the course of their job.

“The medical examiner’s determination of the cause of death is clothed in discretion,” she said. “Medical examiners are hired based on their education, skill, experience, and they’re expected to render that expert opinion as to cause of death. There’s a million little decisions along the way that they make, all of which are discretionary.”

Gontarek gave both sides 20 days to submit proposed orders for his consideration. He noted he spent 43 years as a defense attorney and judge and handled numerous murder cases.

“I understand how important an autopsy report is,” Gontarek said, adding that the White and Pullam case was “interesting.”

The hearing was supposed to begin at 9:30 a.m., but Sombathy was a no-show, explaining to the judge during a hearing later that afternoon that her car’s GPS system took her in the wrong direction. Gontarek, displeased with her lateness, imposed a sanction of four and a half hours of attorneys fees, to be paid to Flowers within 10 days.

“The court finds that those are the type of things that do happen,” he said. “But Mr. Flowers and his clients shouldn’t suffer financially for that.”

'Tarina needs justice'

Tarina, 46, and Billy, 60, were last seen April 1 after stopping into a package store near the lake and buying beer. After boaters found their truck, the Highway Patrol conducted a crash re-enactment — one Flowers said was flawed — and ruled it an accident, the result of careless driving.

But Dr. Daniel Schultz, a private forensic pathologist who reviewed the autopsy and photos from the scene on behalf of the family, expressed alarm at how the bodies were found, Tarina lying on the floorboard, her hands placed across her chest in a “casket position,” and Billy lying across the bench seat.

Schultz found that dual homicide staged to look like a murder-suicide or accident was “very reasonable to consider.”

Radtke, medical examiner for the 14th District, met with the family, Schultz and others but told them that the family’s expert’s findings were conjecture and his review full of inaccuracies.

More: Murder or mistake? Families seek answers 7 years after truck plunged into N. Florida lake

The family recently had White’s remains exhumed so that Schultz could conduct his own autopsy. His preliminary findings, at least, are expected back before the deadline for proposed orders.

Williams, White’s younger sister, said the family felt “pretty good” about how the hearing went. She said the evidence in the case proves White's death wasn't because of an accidental drowning.

“I hope the judge rules in our (favor) in getting this case reopened,” she said. “Tarina needs justice. We’ve got faith in God that we’re going to prevail.”

Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com and follow @JeffBurlew on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Family of Florida woman found dead in submerged truck asks judge to reopen case