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CACHE COUNTY — Utah Highway Patrol is quelling speculation that foul play was a factor in the deadly crash of a man on the day he was supposed to propose.
Family members of Adam Goodsell, his fiancée and others had questioned whether he may have had his brake lines cut ahead of the March 9 crash on U.S. Highway 89 near Wellsville. He had been returning from Salt Lake City, where he had picked up an engagement ring.
I can say that there's nothing criminal in nature as far as that crash.
–Cpl. Todd Johnson, UHP
#johnson_quote
In a call he placed to 911 just before the crash, Goodsell reported that his brakes had failed and his gas pedal was stuck. He was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash, and he died nine days later at McKay Dee Hospital in Ogden.
"I can say that there's nothing criminal in nature as far as that crash," UHP Cpl. Todd Johnson said Wednesday. "We do believe that there's an obvious equipment malfunction, and that's what has been looked at."
UHP's final report on the accident isn't expected to be released until next week, but the investigation has been wrapped up and troopers were able to eliminate the possibility of foul play, Johnson said.
Several malicious acts of vandalism at the Preston, Idaho, home of Goodsell's girlfriend Goldie Chaney — before Goodsell died — raised her suspicions about a possible connection to her love's crash.
The incidents included large rocks being thrown at her car and on top of the roof of her home, hard knocking on the door in early morning hours, even a Dutch oven thrown through a window at the back of Chaney's home. The Dutch oven had rotten food in it, and it splattered up and down Chaney's kitchen walls.
"It got me thinking. It got everybody thinking," Chaney said. "You've got that little bit of doubt in your mind what caused [the crash]. You know, why did the brakes fail? Why did the gas pedal stick?"
Chaney said she wasn't the first to think the worst, others had raised the possibility of foul play. When the idea caught steam in some media reports, Goodsell's father, Darwin, paid attention.
"I had my suspicions, but I didn't want to say nothing because I didn't want to blame anybody," Goodsell said.
After learning of Utah Highway Patrol's conclusion, Chaney and Goodsell expressed relief.
"I am glad that there isn't foul play," Goodsell said. "I don't want to blame somebody for something they didn't do."
