By CATHY WOS and Times staff
Published April 29, 2004
THE EVENING OF MARCH 31
APPROXIMATELY 7:07 P.M.: Jennifer Porter gets into her Toyota Echo at Muller Elementary Magnet School to go home.
7:10 P.M.: Four siblings leaving the University Area Community Center just north of the school are hit while crossing 22nd Street. Bryant Wilkins, 13, and Durontae Caldwell, 3, are killed. Aquina Wilkins, 8, and LaJuan Davis, 2, are injured. Hillsborough sheriff's officials say two vehicles coming from opposite directions were involved.
ABOUT 10 MINUTES AFTER THE CRASH: A call is placed from Porter's cell phone to the Land O'Lakes home she shares with her parents, her sister and her sister's boyfriend.
SINCE THEN
APRIL 1: Officials say they are seeking a third car, a Toyota Echo.
APRIL 2: LaJuan Davis is released from the hospital. Attorney Barry Cohen leads deputies to the Toyota Echo in the Porters' Land O'Lakes garage. Officials, sorting out evidence and witness statements, say it's possible that only the Toyota hit the children, that the Honda identified at the scene may have actually been the Toyota, and that the people in a white van at the scene were probably just witnesses.
APRIL 5: Cohen holds a news conference with Porter, identifying her as the driver of the Toyota Echo. Porter makes a public apology, but says nothing about her actions that night.
APRIL 6: Aquina Wilkins is released from the hospital.
APRIL 16: Porter's parents refuse to answer investigators' questions and risk being held in contempt and sent to jail.
APRIL 20: Porter's parents agree to answer questions, then fire their lawyer and hire Cohen. Porter says in an affidavit that she drove the Toyota Echo involved in the wreck.
APRIL 21: Investigators question Kurt Doiron, boyfriend of Porter's 23-year-old sister, Kelly, who lives with the family, about what happened at their home the night of the crash.
APRIL 22: Porter's parents answer questions under oath at the State Attorney's Office.
APRIL 23: Investigators question Kelly Porter and interview Doiron again.
APRIL 28: Porter turns herself in at the Orient Road jail and is charged with one count of leaving the scene of an accident involving death. She posts a $7,500 bond and leaves less than four hours later. Sheriff Cal Henderson says there was a Honda at the scene, but that the driver has been cleared.
