CENTRAL — A special state trooper team is looking into the death of a Pickens man Tuesday.

As previously reported, South Carolina Highway Patrol troopers responded to a Tuesday afternoon wreck involving 67-year-old Larry Lindley, who died at the scene of State Route 133 at Old Magnolia Parkway.

Highway Patrol’s Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team (MAIT) is trying to find out how Lindley was ejected from his 2007 Yamaha motorcycle. After his body went left of road center, a pickup truck struck him.

The Lindley investigation is part of 21 cases MAIT is handling, said Highway Patrol spokesperson Lance Cpl. Kathy Hiles. The team responds to incidents where criminal charges are possible or as requested by a supervisor. The team’s response to Tuesday’s death does not mean charges are pending, Hiles said.

The team uses computer-aided diagrams to recreate a wreck scene, plotting evidence.

“They put it on a computer and have a better idea of the sequence of events,” she said.

The team used to finish investigations within 45 days but recently changing criteria caused an increased workload, Hiles said. It could take anywhere from six to eight weeks to solve the case.

MAIT is also handling the three-car wreck in Keowee Key that killed 71-year-old Bernice Ebeling, in which a truck went left of center and struck Ebeling’s vehicle head on. Non-fatal wrecks requiring a MAIT investigation include a school bus crash on a secondary road off U.S. 123 near Westminster last May.

Lindley’s death marks the third motorcycle-related fatality in the five-county Upstate region this year. There were three in Oconee County last year while Pickens County had five. Three of the five victims in both counties were wearing helmets, said Hiles.

As opposed to Tuesday’s wreck, most of the eight motorcycle fatalities in Pickens and Oconee last year took place on secondary roads, Hiles said.