A Blacksburg man admitted he drove a 2006 Ford Excursion through the area where Virginia Tech freshman Brian McCloskey was later found fatally injured, according to a search warrant filed today in Montgomery County Circuit Court.

On Dec. 9, Aaron Pierce told Blacksburg investigators he left a party McCloskey had attended at Pheasant Run Crossing Townhomes on Nov. 4 and instead of driving through the parking lot, took a shortcut across the area where McCloskey was found bloody and unconscious, according to the search warrant.

McCloskey died on Nov. 10 from injuries that police believe were caused by being struck by a car.

Police have not arrested anyone in the case. Pierce declined to comment today. Blacksburg Police Chief Bill Brown said police also had no comment at this stage of the investigation.

Earlier this week, Blacksburg police confirmed they had seized two vehicles, a 2006 Ford Excursion from Magic City Ford and a 2002 Chevy Tahoe from Berryville.

Today’s warrant gives the best look so far into the McCloskey investigation. It says Pierce admitted to police that after hearing of McCloskey’s injuries, it had been “in the back of his mind that he may have hit him."

The warrant also paints a scenario of the night McCloskey was injured:

McCloskey had attended a birthday party at 1431 Christine Court. Many witnesses described him as being "very intoxicated" before he left around midnight.

Pierce meanwhile was shuttling people between that party and another gathering in an Excursion that he had borrowed from his roommate, Cameron Johnson, who is general sales manager at Magic City Ford in Roanoke.

Pierce told detectives he drove to the party three times and that between 11:45 p.m. and 12:20 a.m., on his second visit to the party, he avoided turning around in the crowded parking lot by jumping the curb and crossing a grassy area to reach Givens Lane.

On Dec. 12, a Blacksburg investigator interviewed Johnson, who told him that three weeks after the incident Pierce said he “needed to get something off his chest” and that he had driven through the area where McCloskey was injured and was worried. Johnson said Pierce also told him he had hit a rock in the process of reaching the road.

On Tuesday, Johnson told The Roanoke Times that Magic City Ford, which is owned by his father, had loaned the Excursion to a service customer who returned it before it was seized. Johnson did not immediately return calls today.

The search warrant for Johnson and Pierce’s apartment includes both men’s cell phones and computers.

 -- Joe Eaton