The woman who is suspected of killing three children and injuring another with her vehicle as they crossed the street in an attempt to board a Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation school bus was in Fulton Superior Court on Thursday morning.
Alyssa Shepherd pleaded not guilty to three felony charges of reckless homicide and a misdemeanor count for passing a school bus with the stop arm extended causing an injury. She appeared before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Wayne Steele and her two attorneys she retained from the Stanley, Tuszynski & Newman.
The incident occurred on Tuesday, Oct. 30 in front of a mobile home park at 4684 North State Road 25 in Fulton County. According to an Indiana State Police investigation, the school bus driver activated the stop arm and exterior lighting as he was picking up children from the west side of the road. As the children crossed the road to get onto the bus, four children were reportedly hit by a southbound 2017 Toyota Tacoma pick-up truck driven by Alyssa Shepherd.
Six-year-old twins Xzavier and Mason Ingle and their 9-year-old sister Alivia Stahl all passed away at the scene from injuries sustained in the crash. The fourth child, 11-year-old Maverik Lowe, remains in the hospital recovering from serious injuries.
A Pretrial Conference scheduled for Feb. 5 at 1:15 p.m. in Fulton Superior Court.
