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Land O' Lakes Hit-Run Suspect Now In Pasco Jail

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By LISA A. DAVIS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 9, 2008

LAND O' LAKES - A man featured on "America's Most Wanted" television show last year now sits behind bars in Pasco County facing a DUI manslaughter charge.

  Landon Lane Luepkes

Police say Landon Lane Luepkes, 47, was driving a 1994 Dodge pickup on May 8, 2002, that struck and killed Dawn Haywood as she tried to cross U.S. 19. The 45-year-old woman died on the road, and the truck never stopped.

New Port Richey police learned that Luepkes took a truck to a body shop in Tarpon Springs. He had body work done "to conceal the damage caused by the accident," states an arrest warrant signed by a Pasco judge in 2002.

Luepkes and a passenger, Richard Komendat, had been drinking alcohol throughout that day and were leaving a video store when Haywood was hit, the warrant states.

According to the "America's Most Wanted" Web site, Luepkes was caught in Wise County, Va., on Sept. 27 after someone reported a suspicious person sitting on a road near High Knob Recreation Park in the
Jefferson National Forrest.

Wise County sheriff's deputies found the man walking down the road with his shirt rolled up and in his mouth. When they asked him for identification, according to "America's Most Wanted," he handed them his expired Florida license, and they soon learned he was a wanted man.

Pasco County Sheriff's Office spokesman Doug Tobin said Luepkes fought extradition, which is why it took months for him to arrive in Polk.

He is being held at Land O' Lakes Jail on charges of DUI manslaughter and failure to appear in court on a DUI charge. Bail is set at $300,000.

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