Lacy Brinton

The parents of a young pharmacist killed last year on William H. Natcher Parkway are offering a $50,000 reward for answers about her death.

On Feb. 21, 2013, Lacy Brinton, 27, was killed on her way back to Bowling Green from Owensboro after she lost control of her car when driving over soybean meal that was spilled on the road, said her mother, Tammy Brinton of Columbia. The accident occurred about seven miles outside Owensboro.

Brinton was southbound when her vehicle slid in the spilled soybean meal, Daviess County Sheriff’s Office Cpl. Tyler Free said. Also, it was raining that night and there was some sleet. Brinton lost control of the car, went through the median and into the northbound lane, where her car was struck on the driver’s side by a northbound vehicle.

Three other wrecks occurred at the same location because of the spilled soybean meal, Free said.

“There’s not any new evidence,” Free said. “We haven’t received any tips whatsoever. It’s still an active case. If anyone has anything that they may have seen that night, no matter how small they may think it is, we would love to hear from them.”

Anyone with information who wants to remain anonymous can call in tips to the Owensboro Area Crime Stoppers at 270-687-8484.

Tammy Brinton and her husband, Mark Brinton, Lacy’s father, purchased advertisements in newspapers and airtime on TV stations in hopes that someone would tell them who was hauling the load of soybean meal that spilled. The soybean meal was 6 inches deep in some places. So far, they are no further along in finding answers about the truck driver or the company he or she was hauling for.

Lacy received her undergraduate degree in 2008 from Western Kentucky University and attended pharmacy school at Wingate University in North Carolina, where she received a doctorate of pharmacy in 2011.

The day she died, Lacy traveled to Owensboro on what was supposed to be her day off to help at a Walgreens there. 

“It’s been rough,” Tammy Brinton said. “She was kind of like our guiding light. She was just kind of like a leader. She always decided what we were going to do for holidays and where. She was a bright and shining light with our family and with her friends, too. She had friends all over.”

Lacy had a younger sister, Katie, 25, who is an art teacher.

“We are a very close family,” Tammy Brinton said. “It was just the four of us. We just want to know who did this and why they didn’t pull off to the side of the road and call police. She left early from work. We just want someone to be held responsible.”

“You can’t replace her. There’s no way,”she said. “Our family is destroyed. Some people might be able to come back from something like this but not us. We’re destroyed, our whole family.”

Brinton asks anyone with information about the driver or the company to email her at beachbum61@windstream.net. The reward is for information leading to the positive identification of the truck driver or the company he was working for at the time of the meal spill.

“We’re kind of at the end of our rope,” she said. “We really don’t have enough information to go forward is what it boils down to.”

— Follow News Editor Deborah Highland on Twitter at twitter.com/bgdnnewseditor or visit bgdailynews.com.