Jesslyn Ann Nicole Hood was 19 when she died in the early hours of July 24, 2020. She was a passenger in a 2007 Jeep Patriot traveling on County Road 1223, about three miles north of Cullman, when the vehicle left the roadway and struck a tree at approximately 3:45 a.m. Hood was not wearing a seatbelt and was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver, 19-year-old Austin Edward Turrentine of Hartselle, survived and was airlifted to Huntsville Hospital.

Investigators suggested Turrentine was operating the Jeep under the influence of a controlled substance, which prompted further inquiry. In August 2021 a Cullman County grand jury returned an indictment charging Turrentine with reckless murder, manslaughter, and criminally negligent homicide in connection with Hood’s death.

If anyone has information about the crash or the events leading up to it, please share what is known.