Investigators are considering whether drugs, alcohol or mechanical failure played a role in the drownings of seven people whose truck rolled into the lake where Susan Smith drowned her two sons.
An autopsy showed no evidence that the driver, Tim Phillips, had a heart attack or seizure before his truck rolled from an embankment into John D. Long Lake, Sheriff Howard Wells said Tuesday."That makes us look more toward toxicology, alcohol or any drugs in the body," Wells said. Tests will take several days, he said.
Five people inside the truck, along with two people who dove in after them, drowned, Union County Coroner William Holcombe said.
There had been drinking at a family cookout earlier in the day, and beer cans were found inside the truck, Wells said.
Investigators also want to talk to a mechanic who had recently repaired or replaced the truck's transmission and were also seeking help from General Motors Corp., which made the 1987 GMC Sierra Suburban.
Divers found the car's transmission in park and the ignition still on, but the parking brake was not engaged.
The lone adult survivor, Sonya Phillip, provided little help to police when asked if the driver tried to stop the vehicle. Wells said he would question her again after funerals Wednesday for six of the victims.
Phillips; his wife, Angie; and their three children Courtney, 4; Meleana, 1; and Kinsleigh, 4 months, all drowned. Also killed were the children's 3-year-old playmate Austin Dakota Rood-voets, and Carl Sidney White, 29, a family friend who dived into the lake with Angie Phillips to try to rescue them.
The group went to the lake Saturday night to see the monuments to the two Smith boys.