Staff writer

GIBSON COUNTY-A woman driving on Ind. 64 was thrown from her car and killed early Sunday morning, as she tried to avoid hitting a man suspected of stabbing his friend earlier that same morning, and who may have been trying to flag down her vehicle.

Gibson County Sheriff's Deputy Brad Nixon said he received a call describing a man covered in blood walking on Ind. 64 trying to flag down traffic and was responding to the scene, when he received a second call of a car overturned in the area.

Nixon said Melissa M. Carpenter, 19, of rural Owensville, was driving a 2002 Pontiac Alero westbound on Ind. 64 near CR 400 West at about 2:50 a.m. Sunday, when she swerved to avoid a man who may have been in the road.

As Carpenter swerved, she lost control of the vehicle, causing her car to drive off the road, onto a grass embankment and overturning several times, throwing Carpenter about 30 feet out of the vehicle's sunroof. The vehicle continued to roll and came to rest after hitting a utility pole, causing power to go out in the surrounding area.

Carpenter was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident.

In a news release Sunday, the Sheriff's Dept. said Carpenter's vehicle was traveling at about 50-60 mph at the time of the accident and it appeared the victim was not wearing a seat belt.

According to a report from Gibson County Coroner Richard D. Hickrod, an autopsy performed Sunday morning found Carpenter died from skull fractures and head injuries suffered in the accident.

The man who Carpenter swerved to avoid, was allegedly involved in a stabbing at an area home, left that residence and was seen running erratically in the area, apparently headed toward Princeton, Nixon said.

The suspect, later identified as Robert M. Fuller, 22, of Princeton, was located a short time later just west of Princeton.

Police said when they found him, Fuller told them the blood on his shirt was not his and added that &#8220I just stabbed my buddy and was looking for help."

Fuller took police to a residence on Old 65, south of Ind. 64, where they found Christopher Hillyard in a bedroom with multiple stab wounds on the left side of his body.

Hillyard was taken to Gibson General Hospital and later transferred by Lifeflight to St. Mary's Medical Center, in Evansville.

In the release police said Fuller later admitted he was trying to flag down a brown Pontiac, when the car lost control and hit a pole. Fuller was charged with aggravated battery, a Class B felony and was being held at the Gibson County Jail as of Sunday night. It was not clear if he would be charged with any additional counts.

Carpenter was a 2005 graduate of Gibson Southern High School and worked at the Flying J Travel Plaza on U.S. 41. She was the daughter of Lynn and Nancy Carpenter.

The accident and the stabbing incident both remain under investigation.