In the early hours of a Saturday morning in St. Francois County, Missouri, a sixteen-year-old named Persephone Berger was struck and killed by a sheriff's deputy's vehicle while lying unresponsive on a dark road — a tragedy compounded, her family says, by the way truth was withheld from them in the days that followed. The incident raises questions that extend beyond the collision itself: about how institutions communicate with grieving families, and whether transparency is offered freely or only under pressure. Two investigations are now underway, but for those who loved Persephone, the search
Family demands answers after deputy's vehicle kills Missouri teen
Persephone Berger, 16, was struck and killed by a sheriff's deputy vehicle while lying unresponsive on a roadway.
They blatantly lied to us and said she was involved in a hit-and-run
Mark
Why does the timing of notification matter so much here? The deputy hit her early Saturday. The statement came Monday. That's two days.
Mimi
Because in those two days, the family was told a different story. They were told it was a hit-and-run. They weren't told a deputy did it. When you're told a lie about how your child died, and then you find out it was a lie, that changes everything about how you see the authorities involved.
Luke
But we should be careful here. The family says they were told it was a hit-and-run. The sheriff's office hasn't confirmed or denied that specific claim. We know the coroner called the father. We know the statement came Monday. We don't actually have a timeline of every conversation.
Mimi
That's exactly the problem, though. The family is asking for that timeline. The Highway Patrol sergeant said he doesn't have it either. That's not a small gap.
Mark
What about the deputy himself? Why hasn't he been identified?
Luke
The sheriff's office hasn't released his name or said what his status is. That's a choice. Whether it's standard procedure or something else, we don't know.
Mimi
And that feeds the family's distrust. When you're not transparent about who was involved, it looks like you're protecting someone.
Mark
Is there any clarity on why Persephone was lying on the road in the first place?
Luke
No. The aunt says she'd left a party and was heading home. But that's the family's account. The sheriff's office is investigating what led to her being on the road, which suggests they don't have a clear answer yet either.
Mimi
Which means there are still fundamental questions about what happened that night that nobody can answer yet. The investigation is supposed to answer them. But the family's anger isn't really about the investigation—it's about feeling lied to in the immediate aftermath.
Le Pouls
- A deputy responding to a call about someone in the road struck and killed sixteen-year-old Persephone Berger at 3:40 a.m. — he never saw her before impact.
- Her family was not told a deputy's vehicle had killed her; instead, they were led to believe she had died in a hit-and-run, a characterization her aunt calls a blatant lie.
- Three days passed before the sheriff's office released a public statement, and it was the coroner — not law enforcement — who called Persephone's father to tell him his daughter was dead.
- The sheriff's office denies wrongdoing, insisting the deputy never left the scene and immediately reported the incident, while also pushing back against what it calls false rumors circulating on social media.
- The Missouri State Highway Patrol is now leading an independent crash investigation, but the deputy has not been identified, his employment status is unknown, and the family says they are still waiting for the full truth.
In the early hours of a Saturday morning in St. Francois County, Missouri, a sixteen-year-old named Persephone Berger was struck and killed by a sheriff's deputy's vehicle while lying unresponsive on a dark road — a tragedy compounded, her family says, by the way truth was withheld from them in the days that followed. The incident raises questions that extend beyond the collision itself: about how institutions communicate with grieving families, and whether transparency is offered freely or only under pressure. Two investigations are now underway, but for those who loved Persephone, the search for honest answers has only just begun.
Persephone Berger was sixteen years old when a St. Francois County sheriff's deputy, responding to a call about someone unresponsive in the road, arrived at 3:40 a.m. Saturday and struck her without seeing her on the dark pavement. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Her aunt, Kimberly Cabuchola, says Persephone had snuck out to a neighborhood party and was on her way home.
What followed the collision became its own wound. The family was not told a deputy's vehicle had killed her — they were told she had been involved in a hit-and-run. Three days passed before the sheriff's office released a public statement. It was the coroner who called Persephone's father. No one else from law enforcement did. "They blatantly lied to us," Cabuchola told CBS News, and for a family in grief, the mischaracterization was not a minor detail but a fundamental betrayal.
The sheriff's office has disputed the family's account, stating the deputy never left the scene and immediately reported the incident to his supervisor. Officials also addressed what they called false social media rumors about a vehicle pursuit. But the department has not explained the delay in notifying the family and has not responded to further requests for comment.
An autopsy found injuries consistent with being struck by the deputy's vehicle and no evidence of prior trauma, though toxicology results remain pending. Why Persephone was lying unresponsive on the road before the deputy arrived has not been officially explained. The deputy has not been publicly identified, and his employment status is unclear.
Those who knew Persephone remembered her as a young woman with a warm smile and a passion for choir — someone whose voice filled hallways and whose enthusiasm was, by all accounts, contagious. She was sixteen, with a life that is now described only in the past tense.
Two investigations continue: the Missouri State Highway Patrol examining the crash itself, and the sheriff's office looking into the circumstances that placed Persephone on that road. Cabuchola has made clear the family will not settle for incomplete answers. The question they are living with is whether the full, unvarnished truth will ever find its way to them.
Persephone Berger was sixteen years old when a sheriff's deputy's vehicle struck her on a dark road in St. Francois County, Missouri, early Saturday morning. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The deputy had been responding to a call about someone unresponsive lying in the roadway. He arrived around 3:40 a.m., spotted a vehicle with hazard lights flashing, and as he approached, did not see Berger lying on the pavement. The collision happened. She died.
What followed the impact matters as much as the impact itself. Persephone's family did not learn immediately that a deputy's vehicle had killed her. They learned, instead, that she had been involved in a hit-and-run. Days passed before the truth emerged—not from authorities reaching out, but from the St. Francois County Sheriff's Department releasing a statement on Monday, three days after the incident. The coroner called Persephone's father to tell him his daughter was dead. No one else from law enforcement did.
Kimberly Cabuchola, Persephone's aunt, has become the family's voice in demanding clarity. She says her niece had snuck out to attend a neighborhood party and was heading home when she was struck. "They blatantly lied to us and said she was involved in a hit-and-run," Cabuchola told CBS News. The delay in notification, the mischaracterization of what happened—these are not small details to a family grieving a child. They are the difference between being told the truth and being told a story that obscures it.
The sheriff's office has pushed back against the family's account. In its statement, the department insisted the deputy never abandoned the scene and immediately reported the incident to his supervisor. Officials also addressed what they called "false social media claims of a vehicle pursuit," suggesting that rumors had circulated online about how Persephone came to be lying on the road. But the sheriff's office has not explained the delay in contacting the family, and it has not responded to requests for further comment from CBS News.
An autopsy found injuries consistent with being struck by the deputy's vehicle and no evidence of prior injuries. Toxicology results were still pending, and officials had not yet determined a cause of death. The question of why Persephone was lying unresponsive on the roadway in the first place remains unanswered. Her aunt's account—that she had left a party and was returning home—is one version of events, but the official investigation has not confirmed or elaborated on it.
Persephone's obituary described her as a young woman with a ready smile and kind words for those around her. She was a passionate member of her school choir, filling hallways with her voice and what those who knew her called infectious enthusiasm. She was sixteen. She had a life ahead of her that is now measured in what she was, not what she might have become.
Two investigations are now underway. The Missouri State Highway Patrol is leading an independent examination of the crash itself, while the sheriff's office continues investigating the circumstances that led to Persephone being found on the road before the deputy arrived. Sergeant Dallas Thompson of the Highway Patrol told CBS News he does not have a timeline from the sheriff's office regarding what information was shared with the family or when. The deputy involved has not been publicly identified, and his employment status remains unclear.
Cabuchola has made clear the family will not accept incomplete answers. "I do not have a timeline from the sheriff's office of what they talked to the family about or when," she said, echoing the frustration that comes when official silence meets a family's need to know. The investigation continues, but for Persephone's relatives, the real question is whether the truth—the full, unvarnished truth—will ever be told.
Citations marquantes
They blatantly lied to us and said she was involved in a hit-and-run— Kimberly Cabuchola, Persephone's aunt
I do not have a timeline from the sheriff's office of what they talked to the family about or when— Sergeant Dallas Thompson, Missouri State Highway Patrol
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