The Mysterious Driver & the More Mysterious Passenger in the Jaramie Jones Fatal Accident

[XLFD]

The biggest mystery coming from a review of the vehicle-motorcycle collision that claimed Jaramie Jones' life was why did the Michigan State Police cover up the identity of the Jeep driver who drove out in front of Jones' motorcycle, thereby not observing Jones' right-of-way at the intersection of Johnson and Dennis Roads.  Throughout the police report the driver, as well as the names of all witnesses and his passenger, had their names redacted for some unclear reason.  The victim, Jaramie Jones, who could not serve as a witness, had his name throughout the report.

Shortly after 1 PM on July 18, 2020, Jaramie Jones was traveling on his motorcycle on Dennis Road for the couple miles between the US 10/31 Hwy and Hansen Road.  A couple was driving west in a Jeep on Johnson Road, when they came to Dennis Road, and allegedly stopped.  For some unknown reason, they proceeded then to pull out in front of the motorcyclist  A collision occurred which forced both vehicles and Jones into the ditch on the northwest side of the intersection, pinning the victim underneath the instrument that took his life.

The report notes that this was in the middle of a nice summer day with dry pavement and partly cloudy skies.  It indicates that the driver was not impaired, that the crash data recorder of the jeep was not activated and gave a perception that Jones may have been speeding.  There is no indication that any pictures of the scene were taken by the investigating troopers other than a picture of the motorcycle's speedometer, a sketch of the accident scene was rather rudimentary. 

Rather than explore why the Jeep's driver would advance in front of a motorcycle when they should have seen or heard the bike coming down the road from fairly far away under the given conditions, their only concern was to figure out if he may have been impaired (not distracted).

The MSP know that they can walk around FOIA laws because they only have to answer to courts that are appointed by the governor in charge, so it was highly unlikely they would break their own cover up of the names.  When I recently asked for information from the Mason County Sheriff, whose deputies assisted at the scene, they could not add anything to solve this mystery, as they had not dealt with the driver. 

Fortunately, there was one last chance to figure out that mystery when I found that the MSP employed Officer Hecko from the Ludington Police Department (LPD) to conduct an Oral Fluid Test (SOTOXA), to check for chemicals in the driver's system that may have led to impairment.  I was hopeful that they would not try to claim an illegal exemption like the MSP did, and that they would not dance around providing a name, like the MCSO report did.  To their credit, they did neither.

It turns out that the driver's name was Michael Czelada (pictured above), a former teacher around the Grand Ledge area who retired to Ludington with his wife Susan (Liles) Czelada, and currently residing near the big lake.  

In the above contact report, we notice that the non-reported chemical that was tested but not quantified in Mr. Czelada's system was likely the Tramadol he took for the pain of his recent operation, an opioid.  It's unlikely that if he had taken it over 12 hours before, that it would have affected his driving, but then we'd have to be trusting his words.  That may become a little more difficult when looking at the new mystery that this report creates.

One notices that his passenger identifies herself as his wife, Susan Czelada in this report, without any argument from Michael.  In the MSP report, this woman admits to have been absorbed on Facebook while riding back from the shooting range, but was able to clearly know that they stopped fully at the sign, before driving on and getting hit.  

Ludington, we have a problem.  Michael's wife, Susan Lynn Czelada (maiden name Liles) has been dead since early 2019 according to Oak Grove Funeral Home

And in other sources, like the MCP, the COLDNews, and other sources.  Michael Czelada has not remarried another Susan since that time, according to his Facebook page, at the point where the crash happened, he was in a relationship with another woman not named Susan, whom he has since engaged.  On the two year anniversary of his wife's death on January 9, 2021, roughly 6 months after he helped cause Jaramie Jones' death, he acknowledged that his wife had been dead for two years

A look at Susan Liles Czelada's Facebook page shows that she has been absent from posting since 2015, somewhat consistent with somebody who dies of Alzheimers over 3 years later.  This leads one to wonder why the woman passenger would be trying to pass herself off as Michael Czelada's dead wife, and wonder why he would allow that deception to continue in his presence when she is relating her story to police officers.

Such a major deception, with serious consequences if figured out, would almost have to be used to get someone involved in this incident out of what would be even more trouble.  The lie does not help either of the Jeep's passengers escape any repercussions they might have, unless the lie was used to protect the person who made the claim that she was a passenger that day, while she was also passing herself off as Susan Czelada, Michael's wife, arose from the dead. 

How else can one explain the conspiracy of false impersonation between the two, when one objectively looks over the facts.  "Susan Czelada" did not have to undergo chemical tests that day, testing her for impairment; she did not have to worry about officers looking through her phone and finding that she was fiddling with it when the crash occurred.  Why would they if they thought she was not the driver?  Remember, there were no eyewitnesses to the crash and this couple were out of the Jeep before any responders or witnesses arrived.

Check that; there were three eyewitnesses to the crash, two that are proven liars, one that cannot speak about what he saw before he was killed by the other two acting in concert.  It is telling that Michael Czelada's first Facebook post after this incident occurred, posted months later, describes his own fate:

Jaramie Jones continues to be denied justice.  Court records indicates that he has had only one speeding ticket (10 mph over) in Mason County during his lifetime, the same number of speeding tickets both Michael Czelada and the real Susan Czelada have had since they retired here.  Now that we learn that the two people who violated his right to use the road lied bold-facedly to the police about a significant issue, perhaps our officials can get to the bottom of finding out why we had this needless death occur.

[Freedom Seeker]

Very strange about the woman claiming to be his wife. A little investigation on Facebook shows her to be a retired teacher from Howell area. And why no black box proving that they stopped if they did? It still doesnt matter if they stopped and then continued because Jeremy had the right-of-way, even if he was speeding. Maybe that's why whoever was driving the jeep got away with causing death to Jeremy--poor judgment by the responding officer, by not giving the jeep driver a ticket? Got a free pass "because he was speeding and they couldn't see him"?

There is a good chance that Michael was driving and listening to her commenting about social media on her phone and just didn't look well enough at the intersection or maybe blew through the stop sign.

I would think they are both having recurrent bad dreams over it (unless teachers from Lansing area are heartless because they are not from here) and if they lied and covered up a traffic violation that caused death, I would think those bad dreams will turn into nightmares in time, but it does look like they are traveling around for the winter, enjoying retirement when they cut short the life of a hardworking man, husband and father and friend.

Thanks X for concern for Jeremy and his family, and justice for all.  Because if this type of sloppy police work continues, what will be next?

[Freedom Seeker]

Just a thought: could have the investigative officer confused hearing the names "susan" with "sally"?  And assumed they were married with the same last name? Still poor investigation--shouldn't an officer ask for identification from a passenger in a fatal accident?  She may or may not have been driving, only those two and God know. But here's the issue to me ... was there any ticket given to the driver of the jeep for pulling out in front of Jeremy? If not, it just seems like the officer was acting as the judge and jury as well.

[XLFD]

I get what you're saying about names and relationships, but Officer Hecko seems to be too good of an officer to make three errors about the passenger (first name, last name, marital status) through assumptions.  I assume the jeep occupants aren't the kind of people that encounter police on a regular basis, so either Mr. Czelada or his passenger fed the information, and lied for some important reason to them.

I looked at court records, and Mike Czelada did not get any kind of ticket for this incident.  MSP Trooper Michael Cuevas gave him a full pardon; the investigation shows he was only concerned with sobriety issues, not the right-of-way violation that killed a man.