CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Text messages given to police four days after a deadly head-on crash on Highway 361 indicated the driver intended to kill himself, according to an affidavit and complaint obtained by KRIS 6 News.
Liam Shannon, 23, remains in jail on a $500,000 bond. He is charged with murder, a first-degree felony, in the death of 59-year-old Jarrod Fangman. Detectives got a murder warrant for Shannon, and he turned himself in on Tuesday, Sept. 29, according to the Corpus Christi Police Department.
CCPD's public update did not explain what evidence led investigators to believe the crash was intentional. The affidavit does.
The affidavit says that on Aug. 14, two people whose names are redacted came to the police department to provide information about the crash.
According to the document, investigators received text messages that "clearly indicated that the crash was not an accident but was intentional with the intent of Mr. Shannon to kill himself in the crash."
Police were also told Shannon had been acting odd because of an incident at work and a relationship, the affidavit states. A person whose name is redacted told police they felt the crash was not an accident.
Traffic investigators then got a warrant for data from the vehicle Shannon was driving. According to the affidavit, their review of that data led them to believe the vehicle had no technical or mechanical errors and that the crash was intentional.
The crash
Officers were sent to the 7900 block of Highway 361 at 7:10 p.m. Monday, Aug. 10, for a major crash with injuries, according to CCPD. When they arrived, they found a male driver dead at the scene.
Investigators said Shannon was driving south and the other vehicle was driving north. After interviewing witnesses, investigators found that Shannon swerved into the other vehicle's lane, according to CCPD. Shannon was seriously injured and taken by medics to a local hospital.
CCPD says it handed the case to its Robbery/Homicide Division after traffic investigators gathered information on Aug. 14. Police say Shannon and Fangman did not know each other, and the investigation remains active and ongoing.
The crash was one of two in a single week in August that killed three people on Highway 361. DPS began a stepped-up enforcement effort on the highway after those crashes.
Anyone with information can call CCPD's Criminal Investigations Division at 361-886-2840. To stay anonymous, people can call Crime Stoppers at 888-TIPS (8477) or submit a tip online.
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