BERLIN — A Berlin man wanted all week after a fatal accident involving a bicyclist on Route 589 on Sunday night turned himself in Thursday morning and has now been charged with vehicular homicide in the death of another Berlin man.
Around 10:10 p.m. on Sunday, Maryland State Police (MSP) troopers responded to a motor vehicle collision involving a bicyclist in the area of Route 589 and Gum Point Road near Ocean Pines. Upon arrival, MSP troopers determined the operator of the bicycle had suffered severe trauma.
The bicyclist, later identified as Jose Eduardo Madrid-Pineda, 38, of Berlin, a Honduran national, was transported to Atlantic General Hospital where he was pronounced deceased. The driver of the vehicle, later identified as Jonathan Torin Kidder, 58, of Berlin, fled the scene of the fatal accident in his vehicle and remained at large all week before turning himself in Thursday.
Jonathan Torin Kidder, 59, of Berlin
According to sources close to the probe, after Kidder was involved in the fatal accident that killed the bicyclist on Route 589 near Gum Point Road around 10:10 p.m. on Sunday, he fled the accident leaving damaged parts to his vehicle at the scene including a broken side view mirror and broken part of the grill.
About nine minutes later, Kidder was involved in a second unrelated accident near Route 50 and Keyser Point Road. According to witnesses, Kidder got out of his vehicle at the second accident and reportedly admitted to being intoxicated and needing to leave the scene because it was his second accident of the night.
Kidder then fled the scene of the accident at Route 50 and Keyser Point Road on foot, leaving his damaged vehicle behind. Investigators were able to bring damaged parts of the vehicle from the scene of the fatal accident on Route 589 to the accident at Route 50 and Keyser Point and they were consistent with the damage on the vehicle. In short, the damaged pieces of the vehicle left behind on Route 589 allowed investigators to connect him to the second accident nine minutes later on Route 50 and Keyser Point Road.
According to Maryland case search documents, Kidder has now been charged with negligent homicide by motor vehicle while under the influence, homicide by motor vehicle while impaired by alcohol and numerous drunk-driving-related charges. Sunday’s incident marks Kidder’s fifth DWI arrest. He was taken before a District Court Commissioner on Thursday morning and was ordered to be held without bond. A bail review hearing is set for Friday morning.
During the investigation, the MSP was assisted by many departments including the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office, the Maryland Natural Resources Police, the Ocean City Police Department, Delaware State Police, the Berlin Fire Department and the State Highway Administration.
