Ohio Man’s Video Confession: ‘I Killed a Man’

LOIC VENANCE/AFP/Getty Images(FRANKLIN COUNTY, Ohio) — In a stark video confession posted online this week, a guilt-wracked Ohio man has admitted to killing a Navy veteran in a drunk driving accident three months ago, and is now ready to go to prison “for a very long time.”

Matthew Cordle, 22, admits that he was “completely blacked out” the morning of June 22 when, after a night of drinking with friends, he got into his truck and entered a highway headed in the wrong direction. In the clip uploaded to YouTube on Sept. 3, Cordle says that he was “just trying to have a good time, but lost control.”

“My name is Matthew Cordle, and on June 22nd, 2013, I hit and killed Vincent Canzani,” he says. “This video will act as my confession.”

According to an obituary published on Legacy.com, Canzani, a photographer and Navy vet who served from 1980 through 1986, died at 61 in an automobile accident on June 22. He was survived by two daughters.

Cordle was found injured at the scene of the accident and brought to the hospital, where police took blood samples that were tested for alcohol content, Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien told ABC News.

In the clip, which begins with Cordle speaking to the camera with his face blurred and voice distorted, he says that in the aftermath of the accident he consulted “high powered attorneys” who said that they could help get his blood test thrown out. But Cordle said he wants to come clean about his culpability in Canzani’s death.

“I won’t dishonor Victor’s memory by lying about what happened,” he said, “By releasing this video, I know exactly what it means. I’m handing the prosecution everything they need to put me away for a very long time.”

At the end of the clip, Cordle begs viewers to not drink and drive.

The clip was produced as part of a social campaign called “Because I Said I Would,” which encourages “bettering humanity through the power of a promise.” Organizers of the campaign send out promise cards on which participants can outline charitable acts or other good deeds.

Though Cordle’s confession has made waves across the web, O’Brien told ABC News that the clip, which he said he has viewed, doesn’t quite add up to the bald-faced confession it seems, and he was a prime suspect in Canzani’s death, with his blood being tested for drugs as well as alcohol.

“This isn’t a situation where he was confessing. …He was a suspect. An investigation was ongoing,” O’Brien said.

The Franklin County prosecutor’s offices will likely present the case to a grand jury next week, O’Brien said, and a warrant will likely be issued for his arrest.

Calls placed by ABC News to Cordle and his attorney George Stark Breitmayer were not immediately returned. O’Brien said that the investigation is cut and dry.

“He’ll probably post bond,” O’Brien said. “He and his attorney are saying he’ll plead guilty out of the box.”

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio