Two drivers in separate crashes near Wasilla early this year, which claimed the lives of a man and a teenage boy, now stand accused of manslaughter.
Court records Monday showed separate manslaughter cases filed against 25-year-old Wasilla resident Darin Cleveland and 29-year-old Bryon Melton of Willow. Cleveland is also charged with DUI and driving with a canceled, suspended, revoked or limited license, while Melton faces additional charges of criminally negligent homicide and driving without a valid license.
The charges against Cleveland date back to New Year's Day, when Cleveland was driving in the wrong lane of Knik-Goose Bay Road near Vine Road, Alaska State Troopers said. Cleveland's vehicle collided head-on with a car driven by 57-year-old Pyotr Kudryn, who was declared dead after the crash; Cleveland suffered minor injuries, while two of his passengers — Gertrude Ivanoff, 25, and Ella Williams, 26 — were taken to area hospitals with life-threatening injuries.
Melton, a Willow resident, was the driver in a Feb. 8 vehicle-pedestrian crash on North Pittman Road, in which 15-year-old Austin Edenfield was struck and killed within 100 yards of his home. Melton's record also includes open cases on charges of driving without a valid license in Tok in January, as well as in Soldotna and Wasilla in June.
Correctional officers said Melton was being held at the Anchorage Correctional Complex and Cleveland at the Cook Inlet Pretrial Facility on Monday morning. Bail for both was set at $100,000, according to court records.