Missing I-74 Driver Found Dead In Whitewater River

(West Harrison, Ind.) - A series of events on Interstate 74 may have led to the death of a Guilford man Monday.

Monday’s morning commute was marred by icy roads around the tri-state. There were several reported wrecks and slide offs on Interstate 74 between Batesville and the Indiana-Ohio state line, at one point leading to the interstate’s closure for almost two hours.

Indiana State Police believe one of those accidents perhaps sent James J. Kramer, 54, to his death.

Sgt. Noel Houze said a crash of series of crashes at about 5:05 a.m. Monday resulted in Kramer going missing.

Trooper Kyle Stovall arrived at the scene approximately 30 minutes after the crashes, one of which occurred on the Whitewater River Bridge in West Harrison.

Stovall believes Kramer’s 2004 Ford F150 pickup truck was involved in a crash on that bridge just west of the Brookville exit when the vehicle came to rest it was across both eastbound lanes.

A very short time later a 2007 Nissan driven by Jesus A. Diaz-Ramirez, 57, of Indianapolis, was crossing the bridge and saw the red Ford pickup truck in the roadway and swerved to avoid the pickup and struck the bridge and possibly the pickup truck.

Just a short time later another 2004 Ford F150 pickup truck driven by Gerald H. Schneider, 59, of Brookville came across the bridge and missed the red pickup truck but struck the 2007 Nissan.

That wasn’t the end of the chain reaction. A short distance behind the Schneider vehicle a 2003 Freightliner semi tractor pulling a box trailer driven by Rafal K. Kupski, 33, of Huntley, Illinois, struck the Nissan and the red Ford F150 and pushed both vehicles to the east side of the bridge.

During the subsequent investigation Kramer could not be found. The driver of the Nissan said he didn’t remember seeing the driver when he came upon the original crash, however, due to darkness, it would have been difficult to see anyone at that time.

Troopers attempted to make contact with the registered owner of the pickup truck at his residence in northern Dearborn County and they also searched the along the banks of the Whitewater River all day yesterday but were unable to locate a body.

On Tuesday morning, divers from the Indiana State Police and Indiana Department of Natural Resources Underwater Search and Recovery teams continued their search for a body in the Whitewater River. At about 1:30 p.m. they found Kramer’s body on a sandbar about a mile downstream.

The red Ford F150 is registered to Kramer and relatives say he was driving his vehicle Monday morning.

Now, state police investigators are trying to determine if Kramer was knocked off the bridge, or if he had jumped in an attempt to avoid a collision with the oncoming vehicles.

A cause of death will not be determined until an autopsy has been conducted.

Diaz-Ramirez, the driver of the 2007 Nissan, was taken to a medical center in Harrison for treatment of non-life threatening injures.