MUNCIE, Ind. — An Indianapolis man has been sentenced to 24 years in prison for causing a deadly crash while driving drunk on the wrong side of Interstate 69 in Delaware County.
Walter Saucedo-Mendoza pleaded guilty to two counts of causing death while operating a vehicle with an alcohol concentration of .08 or more and one count of criminal recklessness. Saucedo-Mendoza pleaded guilty on Nov. 20 and was sentenced on Dec. 2, 2024.
Indiana State Police responded to a report of a wrong-way driver on I-69 near mile marker 234, just east of Anderson, shortly after 2 a.m. Nov. 12, 2023.
Officers found multiple damaged vehicles blocking all southbound lanes of I-69. The preliminary investigation determined there was a head-on collision between a Kia driving the wrong way and a Chevrolet going southbound.
The driver and passenger of the Chevrolet, 32-year-old Victoria Elaine Cox and 26-year-old Evan Daniel Cox, were pronounced dead.
Blood toxicology reports allegedly found Saucedo-Mendoza's blood-alcohol-content was .186, more than twice the legal limit.
“I hope this sentence starts the process of closure for the family and friends of Evan and Victoria Cox and sends a very strong warning to those who chose to drink and drive," Delaware County Prosecutor Eric Hoffman said. "If you make that choice and you hurt or kill someone in this County, you will be zealously prosecuted. I want to thank Deputy Prosecutor Steve Sneed as well as the Indiana State Police and the Daleville Police Department for their hard work and dedication in this case.”
Saucedo-Mendoza's sentence is just 2.5 years short of the maximum possible sentence.
