HARRISBURG, Pa. - Cody Binkley had smoked marijuana and was on methadone before crashing his boat into the Dock Street Dam late at night on May 7, killing his fiancee and 3-year-old daughter, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Dauphin County District Attorney's Office.
Court documents say the levels of THC in Binkley's blood showed that he had smoked marijuana about an hour before the crash.
"Because of the combination and levels of controlled substances in Binkley's system," the court records said, "he ignored instinctive, natural, and manmade warnings of the hazard in his path of operation; and did not realize the Dock Street Dam was in front of him."
The court record also reveled the following new details about the fatal incident on the Susquehanna River:
On the way to the Middletown boat launch, a tire blew out on the boat trailer forcing Binkley to drive on the wheel rim.
Binkley told investigators that he and his fiancee, Mary Bredbenner, were not wearing life jackets.
He insisted that his daughter Madeline was wearing a life jacket, but an autopsy revealed that it was not properly fitted or secured to her at the time of the accident.
This led investigators to believe that she "fell out of the life jacket immediately upon entering the water."
After the incident, Binkley was treated for hypothermia, but was released against medical advice, according to documents.
He then reportedly went to his grandmother's house to sleep, which concerned police due to his "daughter was still missing on the river," according to the records.
The records say Binkley would later deny to driving directly into the low-head dam, but surveillance video proved otherwise, according to investigators.
A video camera recorded his boat traveling parallel to the dam as the out flow pushed his boat away. The boat paused six seconds and instead of turning around, turned left directly toward the dam and approached it at a high rate of speed, according to the records.
The impact of the crash threw the occupants out of the boat and above the dam, but they soon came back over the dam and the boat went under water.
Binkley said he "maintained contact with Mary during the initial moments of the incident but lost sight of Madelyn," according to court records.
Bredbenner's body was found in the 64-degree water about 90 minutes after the crash near the Turnpike bridge along with a single pink toddler sneaker, pink and green toddler swim aid with a tag that noted "not a life saving device," and child's pink backpack filled with My Little Pony toys and Barbie dolls.
Madelyn's body was recovered three days later, on May 10. She was missing pants and shoes but wearing black socks and a black hooded sweatshirt.
Autopsies later confirmed Bredbenner and Madelyn Binkley died from fresh water drowning. Bredbenner had the presence of marijuana and methadone in her system.
Binkley told police he was also taking methadone to help recover from a heroin habit, according to the documents, but mixing that with marijuana could have a harmful effect on motor-skills and in making sound judgments to prevent a life-threatening incident.
"The totality of the circumstances and evidence collected during this investigation of prove that Mary Bredbenner and Madelyn Binkley were killed as a direct result of Cody Binkley's drug usage, negligent and reckless behavior, and violations of the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Code and the Pennsylvania Crimes Code."
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