Birmingham woman sentenced in death of former Fairfield man

BIRMINGHAM – A Birmingham woman has been sentenced to five years in prison in connection to an incident in which a passenger in her vehicle drowned in 2019.

Paris Nicole Wahl Bickham, 24, pleaded guilty to causing a serious injury by operating a vehicle while intoxicated, which led to the death of Gavin Hannah, 22, of Memphis, Missouri, and formerly of Fairfield. Bickham was ordered to pay $100,000 in restitution to Hannah’s estate, and about $9,500 to the crime victim compensation fund.

The incident in question occurred on Jan. 4, 2019, though Bickham was not charged with vehicular homicide until June of that year after an investigation. According to law enforcement reports from the time of the incident, the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office received a call from a resident along the Des Moines River on Jade Avenue near Keosauqua about a possible motor vehicle accident.

The reporting party stated that a female had come to their door asking for help. The female was wet, and claimed to have driven off the roadway and into the river. She also indicated there was a male passenger in the vehicle with her at the time of the accident.

The woman, later identified as Paris Nichole Wahl-Bickham, of Birmingham, was transported to the Van Buren County Hospital for treatment, and was subsequently released.

The responding sheriff’s deputy and a volunteer began searching the immediate area for the missing man. They searched for two hours but discovered neither the man nor the vehicle.

On the following morning, Jan. 5, 2019, at about 8 a.m., a caller reported seeing a “ripple” in the Des Moines River about 100 yards downstream from the boat ramp located in the Badlands private campground. The caller stated the ripple had not been there before.

Officers from the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office, Iowa State Patrol, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Wapello County Emergency Management, Ottumwa Fire Department, Van Buren County Attorney and the city of Keosauqua responded to the scene.

A vehicle was recovered from the river. Watercraft equipped with sonar, a drone equipped with video, and forward-looking infrared radar was used to search the river and river banks for the missing man, to no avail.

The following morning, Jan. 6, 2019, Van Buren County Sheriff’s Reserve officers and volunteers participating in a search of the area downstream of Keosauqua found Hannah’s body.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com