Driver in fatal hit-and-run of MSU student facing arraignment Friday
OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - An Oakland Township woman who fled to Thailand to avoid charges in the fatal hit-and-run of a Michigan State University student will be arraigned on Friday.
Tubtim "Sue" Howson, 57, was returned to Michigan on Wednesday, March 15, to face charges in the New Year's Day crash that killed 22-year-old Benjamin Kable, an MSU student from Shelby Township.
"I greatly appreciate the assistance of the Thailand authorities and our federal partners who worked tirelessly with us to bring this woman back and to hold her accountable," Sheriff Michael Bouchard said. "It's hard to imagine how you could drive away and leave a person in the road that you had struck and killed. It will never fill the void for the family but hopefully it brings them a measure of closure."
Howson will be arraigned at 11:30 a.m. in the 52-3rd District Court in Rochester Hills.
She is charged with failure to stop at the scene of an accident causing death.
Officials say the crash happened at about 5:49 a.m. on Jan. 1, when Howson struck Kable while he was standing or walking on Rochester Road south of Whims in Oakland Township.
Howson, a dual citizen of the United States and Thailand, allegedly fled to Bangkok two days after the crash.
Investigators had a description of her vehicle and a tip that led authorities to identify Howson as the suspect. She was located with the help of the FBI, U.S. Marshals and law enforcement officials in Thailand and was then returned to the United States.
"Howson was taken to an undisclosed location in Michigan by U.S. Marshals who accompanied her from San Francisco where she had been held since Feb. 22. The location was not released for security reasons."
