Investigators say woman called police to say she may have hit and killed 3-year-old

DEARBORN COUNTY, Ind. - Sheriff investigators say the likely driver of the vehicle that killed a 3-year-old boy in Indiana has turned herself in to authorities.

Authorities say a woman called police around 3 a.m. Wednesday morning to say she was in the area at the time of the accident.   

The parents of Jack Carpenter pleaded with the public to help them find the person who was driving the pickup truck Tuesday afternoon on North Dearborn Road in Logan Township.

The accident occurred around 1:30 p.m.

The victim's mother, Beth Carpenter, says her two children were outside of the car at their grandmother's house.

Carpenter says she saw a blue pickup truck approaching the area and told her children to stop running.

However, she says Jack stopped, but then kept going toward the road. That's when investigators say he was hit and the driver kept going.

"He had plenty of time. I know that in my heart. I saw it cause I was like he stopped, it's going to be ok. The truck, I thought, he's just got to stop and he just never did. Just kept going. There was not even a brake, not one brake light, not one stop.," said Beth Carpenter Tuesday evening.

Dearborn County Sheriff Department Chief Deputy Mike Kreinhop says the driver told investigators she didn't realize that she possibly could have hit something in the road.

The driver, who authorities have not identified, said she knew she had been in the area that day, so she called police.

"We did have a witness to the accident which gave us a limited description of the vehicle at the time. Since that time, the driver had heard radio or TV reports of this accident and voluntarily contacted police to report the possibility that she may have been involved in the accident," Kreinhop said Wednesday morning.

Authorities say speed doesn't appear to have been a factor in the crash.

Investigators say the preliminary investigation is leaning toward an accident.

Indiana State Police are helping the Dearborn County Sheriff's Department with the case.