Hit and Run Suspect Indicted

The Stephens County Grand Jury has indicted a man in connection with a hit and run last year.

Jonathon Alton Purcell was indicted last week on one count of hit and run in the death of 18-year old Hannah McFall of Toccoa.

On May 1st, 2017, Stephens County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of a motor vehicle accident involving a pedestrian on North Red Rock Road.

Deputies found a white female, later identified as McFall, lying in the roadway.  McFall was pronounced dead at the scene by the Stephens County Coroner.

According to the Sheriff’s office, after following up on several leads deputies were able to locate the suspects’s vehicle on Cardinal Lane in Toccoa early the next morning.

The indictment alleges Purcell failed to immediately stop his vehicle after allegedly hitting McFall and failed to make every reasonable effort to get her help by calling 911 for emergency medical services and local law enforcement.

Sheriff Randy Shirley said Purcell was questioned a short time later and claimed he did not realize that he had hit a woman, only that he had hit “something.”

Shirley said in an interview Tuesday that after an extensive investigation by the Georgia State Patrol, only the one charge of hit and run was submitted to the District Attorney’s office.