SHAWNEE COUNTY— A man accused in connection with an accident that left a former Kansas State University student dead in December of 2021 has been charged with vehicular homicide.
John Alfred Moulden, 38, Knoxville, Tennessee also faces charges that include failure to stop at an accident known to result in death and driving at an unsafe speed for prevailing conditions, according to online jail records. He was booked in Shawnee County last week and is no longer in custody, according to the department of corrections.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported that just after 3:30p.m. on Sunday December 5, 2021, an International semi driven by Moulden was westbound in the left lane on Interstate 70 and unable to move into the right lane due to a rollover accident near SW West Union Road involving a 2008 Pontiac Grand Prix driven by Dakota B. Swader, 20, of Topeka that entered the center median and came to rest upside down.
A pedestrian identified as Autumn Johnson, a 21-year-old Kansas State University student from Wasilla, Alaska, parked her vehicle on the right shoulder of west bound Interstate 70 along with other vehicles.
Johnson exited the vehicle and ran through traffic toward the median to assist Swader, according to Shawnee County Deputy Abigail Christian. The semi struck Johnson.
EMS transported Johnson to Stormont Vail in Topeka where she died. American Medical Response transported Swader to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to Shawnee County Deputy Abigail Christian.
Johnson was hailed as a hero following the tragedy. She was a first-year veterinary science student at K-State.