Police said John Kemper Hutcherson, 21, was apparently drunk when he left a bar and drove off the road early Sunday and hit the support wire of a telephone pole, severing the head of Francis Daniel Brohm, 23.

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Police said Hutcherson then continued to drive 12 miles home and slept in his blood-spattered clothes, leaving Brohm's headless body in the vehicle.

"It's hard for one to imagine that you would drive (several) miles from a crash site to your home, turning in various directions, and yet not know what has happened to a passenger sitting next to you in your vehicle," said Cpl. Dana Pierce, spokesman for Cobb County police.

A neighbor out on a stroll with his baby daughter around 8 a.m. Sunday discovered Brohm's body inside the 1992 Chevrolet Z-71 pickup truck parked in Hutcherson's driveway and called authorities.

After the headless corpse, which police covered with a white sheet, was removed, a damaged sideview mirror was the only noticeable blemish on the vehicle.

Hutcherson has been charged with first-degree vehicular homicide, driving under the influence, failure to stop at an accident with death or injury and failure to maintain lanes. He remained at the Cobb County jail Monday after a magistrate court judge set bond at $100,000.

The man's bond had been set at $10,000 but was increased by the magistrate judge because he had a prior record.

This is Hutcherson's fourth stay in the Cobb County jail, a sheriff's official said.

He was jailed in January on charges of possession of less than an ounce of marijuana.

In 2001, Hutcherson was held for a number of traffic charges, including driving under the influence. He pleaded guilty then to underage possession, but the other charges were thrown out.

Officers said Hutcherson appeared remorseful after they found him sleeping inside his home Sunday morning, still covered in blood and visibly inebriated.

Brohm's funeral was scheduled to be held Friday in Louisville, Ky., the family's hometown. A memorial will be held Sept. 7 at St. Ann's church in Marietta.

Police said they dod not suspect foul play but have many unanswered questions.

"We're just trying to figure out how some of these things happened," Cpl. Brody Staud, a Cobb police spokesman said Monday. "Because they just don't seem logical how they ended up where they ended up."

Police said Hutcherson and Brohm, who were friends since high school, were hanging out at a bar Saturday night and left after Brohm said he felt sick.

About a mile and a half from the bar, Hutcherson swerved off the road and hit the support wire of a telephone pole, which severed Brohm's head, police said. They did not say why Brohm was hanging out the passenger-side window when he was struck.

Police found found Brohm's severed head at the crash site.

Neighbors expressed grief and shock that a night of drinking could lead to decapitation.

"They shouldn't have been doing that," resident Bob Gladstone said. "It just doesn't compute."

Some residents in the neighborhood described Hutcherson as a nice kid while others say he flirted often with danger.

Channel 2 Action News reporters Ross Cavitt and Tom Jones contributed to this report.