Wreck suicide, police say; motive unknown

One other driver was injured in the four-vehicle crash

By MARK FREEMAN

New 20-year-old parents Cameron White and Aaron Rogers motored down Highway 140 toward Medford about 8:45 p.m. Sunday for a rare dinner out without their 5-month-old son, Hunter.

White drove their Ford Escort west through the Agate Desert darkness that was illuminated only by the headlights of a lone eastbound pickup. Then instantly, the pickup's headlights that were supposed to flash past instead swerved directly into their path just a few yards away.

"He didn't give any warning," Rogers said. "Cam swerved just out of instinct, and that pickup came within an inch of hitting our side mirror.

"We thought, if this guy's not drunk, he's got to be wigged out," she said.

White stopped their car and turned it around, creating a grim vantage point for witnessing a horrific four-vehicle wreck that police are now calling a case of suicide on the highway.

The pickup swerved back into the correct lane as it approached the next westbound car, then darted directly into its path to trigger a head-on collision, police and witnesses say.

As White and Rogers tried to help the victims, the pickup was then struck by two more westbound vehicles before the ordeal ended with the pickup driver dead and one other motorist injured.

"When the cops came, I told them that I thought the guy was trying to do this," Rogers said.

Lloyd Dean Seaman, a 33-year-old Medford man with a history of mental illness, was pronounced dead at the scene a mile east of the Highway 62 interchange.

The medical examiner expects to list his death as a suicide, a conclusion supported by an Oregon State Police investigation as well as statements by Rogers and other witnesses, OSP Detective Greg Wright said.

Seaman was a former auto-body worker who Wright said was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic and who had sought professional help for depression in the hours just prior to his death.

But Wright said investigators did not know what triggered his latest bout with depression or why Seaman apparently chose a Sunday night car wreck on Highway 140 as the time, place and way to die.

"We just don't know a reason why," Wright said Tuesday.

Seaman's mother, Joan Wilder of Medford, said that she, too, has no explanation for what happened Sunday. But as Wilder grieved for her son Tuesday, she said she doesn't accept the suicide conclusion.

"I loved my son very much," Wilder said. "I'm very sad about what happened. (But) I don't know what happened, other than he was killed instantly."

Police and road crews blocked traffic at the scene for about 31/2 hours as they cleared debris, treated injuries and investigated the crash.

Injured in the wreck was Bryan Warren Cosgrove, the 21-year-old driver of the Jeep, police said.

Seaman's pickup became airborne and flipped three times after striking the Jeep, landing on its roof in the middle of the highway, Rogers said.

The collision collapsed the passenger side of the Jeep, but the belted driver suffered only minor injuries.

"He was very lucky to be alive," Wright said. "If he had a passenger, that person wouldn't have made it."

As White rushed to Cosgrove's aid and Rogers ran toward Seaman's pickup, a Gold Hill couple motored west on the highway, unaware of the wreck just in front of them.

Lyle and Val Snell were headed home from a weekend of trout fishing at Howard Prairie Lake, with Lyle Snell driving the family motor home and his wife following a half-mile or so behind in the couple's Suzuki utility vehicle.

Rogers said she watched the motor home hit and spin Seaman's pickup, then she could see Seaman - who police said was not wearing his safety belt - lying in the roadway.

Seaman was alive, Rogers said, with his arms outstretched and begging for help as Snell's Suzuki bared down.

"I didn't know what to do for the guy," Rogers said. "I wanted to help him. I wanted to lift (Snell's) car out of the way. But I couldn't stop that last car."

Val Snell, 75, said she could not see Rogers or the wreckage as she approached.

"It was dark, really dark," Val Snell said. "We were right on top of it before you could even see it."

Rogers said she watched Snell's car strike Seaman, "and then it was too late to do anything."

Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail mfreeman@mailtribune.com 

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