Suspect arrested in hit/run death

The man charged in connection with a Dec. 29 hit and run death told police he did not know he’d hit anyone – until he read about the death of Matthew Gibbs on Facebook two days later.

Collin Guthals said he initially left the intersection where his truck had been involved in a crash, but then returned and he did not see anyone or anything that night.

“Collin claimed he did not know anything about the accident until he seen it on Facebook,” court records show. “Collin said he knew at that point he was the driver who (struck) Matthew at the intersection.”

Guthals said he never reported the incident to police until after his arrest because he was scared, according to an affidavit for arrest warrant filed in magistrate court.

Police on Friday charged Guthals, 29, with leaving the scene of an accident, conspiracy to commit tampering with evidence and driving while license suspended or revoked, jail records show. He is being held in the Curry County Detention Center without bond. He faces up to three years and three months in prison if convicted on all counts, prosecutors said.

Gibbs, 24, was on his way to his job at the Allsup’s at 14th and Norris streets in Clovis a little before 11 p.m. that Friday night when he was hit by a vehicle, authorities said.

More than two hours later, a passing motorist saw him lying in a field and called police. Rescue workers rushed him to Plains Regional Medical Center in Clovis but he did not survive.

Police found debris in the roadway where Gibbs was struck. David Gibbs, Matthew’s father, said police told him they thought the vehicle was a truck or an SUV.

Court records show investigators on Tuesday determined a white truck was involved in the crash, based on a piece of a headlight found at the scene. Authorities obtained video from multiple private security systems in the area that showed a vehicle leaving the scene of the crash and driving to Guthals Nursery & Landscaping, where Collin Guthals was living at his family owned business.

Police obtained a search warrant for the building where they located a white 2009 Chevrolet pickup “with damage consistent with the crash.” They also found Matthew Gibbs’ shoe “hanging down from the front passenger tire assembly,” the arrest affidavit shows.

“(I)t was consistent to the one shoe which was located at the crash scene.”

The driver of the vehicle was identified as Guthals, police said. When they interviewed him Wednesday, he said the accident had been bothering him since he realized what had happened last Sunday.

“Collin told me he has not slept in three days, hasn’t been able to eat and just prayed about it since he found out,” a police officer wrote in his report.

“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry. I can’t express that enough,” Guthals said, according to the court records.

Funeral services were scheduled Friday for Matthew Gibbs.

David Gibbs said Matthew had been working at Allsup’s for about a year, most recently the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift. He regularly walked or rode a scooter to work from the home he shared with his two younger brothers in the 1500 block of Echols Street.

“He never met a stranger. He talked to everybody,” David Gibbs said of his son.

Police said Guthals was initially arrested Wednesday on a probation violation. A warrant charging him in connection with Gibbs’ death was filed Friday.

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