03/28/2024

Kenneth Haselden

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Kenneth Haselden
Kenneth Haselden

A South Carolina man charged in an accident in August that killed two people in Bladen County was indicted Monday in Bladen County Superior Court on four additional charges.

Kenneth Gary Haselden, 64, of Huger, South Carolina, was charged with two counts each of serious injury by vehicle and death by vehicle, all felonies. He was released after posting a $250,000 unsecured bond ordered by Judge D. Jack Hooks.

Haselden had been charged with driving while impaired and failure to reduce speed following the accident that occurred Aug. 27 on U.S. 701 near Cape Fear ATV and MX Park.

Killed in the accident was Liz Esbeidy Manujano, 30, of Bladenboro. Her six-year-old daughter, Alyssa, later died from injuries suffered as a result of the accident. Manujano’s 11-year-old daughter, Jinely, was injured and airlifted to Duke Hospitals in Durham. Her one-year-old son, Josue, was riding in his car seat and not injured. The other two children were not properly restrained at the time of the accident and Alyssa was ejected from the vehicle, according to investigators.

According to the N.C. Highway Patrol, Haselden was driving his 2007 Dodge pickup southbound on U.S. 701. Melissa Coffin Melvin of Elizabethtown was slowing for traffic when her 2006 Chevrolet SUV was struck in the rear by Haselden’s vehicle.

Haselden’s vehicle then veered left of the center line and struck head-on the 2012 Honda Passport driving by Manujano, investigators said. Melvin’s vehicle also crossed the center line after being struck and collided with a 2006 Dodge van driven by Francie Murphy Hunter of Garland.

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