Nerissa Bragg-Leaf’s Death and Obituary A call for help was placed to Monroe County Central Dispatch at roughly 6:40 a.m. on Tuesday, February 20, 2024, describing a person who was walking south in the northbound lane of South State Road 37 close to Dillman Road in Bloomington. The person was said to be dressed in dark clothes.
Detective Lieutenant Jennifer Allen noted that after about three minutes, several callers reported that the person had been hit even though they had not been present at the time of the crash. A female body was found laying in the street by the time deputies and emergency medical technicians arrived on the scene. It was discovered that the body was dead.
The person in question has been identified as 48-year-old Nerissa Bragg-Leaf, a woman who resides in Bloomington without a place to call home.
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Department sent investigators and reconstructionists to the scene of the incident. The investigation led to the 38-year-old Bloomington resident Dustin Eason’s apprehension.
He was taken to IU Health Bloomington Hospital for a blood draw before being charged with a Level 4 felony—running from the scene of an accident that resulted in death—and lodged in the Monroe County Jail. After obtaining the required bond, he was allowed to leave jail.
The court accepts a plea of not guilty under the circumstances on behalf of Eason. In addition, a pretrial conference is scheduled for Tuesday, March 26, 2024 at 2:00 p.m. in Monroe Circuit Court 3, and a jury trial is scheduled for August 26, 2024 at 8:30 a.m.
The driver in a fatal hit-and-run incident is wanted by Bloomington police after a woman was found dead in a ditch by the side of the road last week. After a week-long investigation, the 37-year-old itinerant woman who was found dead in a roadside ditch last week looks to have had parts of her riddle mostly solved, according to the Bloomington Police Department.
At 3:20 p.m. on January 28, BPD officers received their first call regarding a possible death in the 3200 block of S. Walnut Street Pike. As a passenger headed south on Walnut Street Pike, a caller reported seeing what looked to be a body in a ditch off the west side of the road, according to BPD Capt. Ryan Pedigo. When BPD officers arrived, they found a dead woman laying in a clump of brush in the ditch.
She was later recognized by the Monroe County Coroner’s Office as a 37-year-old transient woman. The officers believe they now know what happened. The autopsy showed the victim had several injuries consistent with being hit by a car, the BPD said in a statement on Friday. The detectives later found footage of the motorist hitting the victim and taking off from a nearby parking lot.
In the video, a large, dark-colored SUV is seen driving south on Walnut Street Pike. On Saturday, January 27, at 6:45 p.m., the SUV was engaged in an accident that most likely resulted in damage to its front end. BPD said witnesses saw a darker, newer model SUV pulled over at the intersection of Walnut Street Pike and E. Burks Drive. A passerby said that as the automobile was circling, they had spoken to a “middle-aged, dark-complected man in a suit” who said the car had just hit a deer.
