A newly released medical examiner report is shedding more light on the ATV rollover that killed LendingTree founder and CEO Doug Lebda on Oct. 12, 2025, on his 277-acre Mill Spring property. The report says Lebda had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.14% along with delta-9‑THC in his system at the time of his death. The autopsy lists the probable cause of death as an accident resulting from blunt‑force injuries to his head and abdomen. Investigators found Lebda lying on his back beneath the overturned vehicle and noted he was not wearing a helmet or seatbelt.
According to the The Charlotte Observer, the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner documented those toxicology findings and flagged that the laboratory methods used could not reliably distinguish some delta‑9 and delta‑8 variants. The report lists the time of death as 8:26 p.m. and notes that property cameras showed Lebda calling for his dog at about 3 p.m. before he drove into the woods on his land. That timeline tracks with earlier dispatch notes about a missing‑person call that evening.
The autopsy summary stresses that the blunt‑force injuries to Lebda’s head and abdomen were fatal and that the physical trauma, not any single toxicology number, accounted for his death. Polk County 911 communications received a missing‑person call at 7:31 p.m., and a Rutherfordton resident later called to report Lebda missing, according to prior reports. Authorities have not announced any criminal charges related to the crash.
What the report found
The toxicology section recorded a BAC of 0.14%, well above the legal driving limit, and detected delta‑9‑THC, the main psychoactive compound in marijuana. Forensic pathologist Daniel Gallego told The Charlotte Observer that while the alcohol level indicates intoxication above legal limits, the severity of Lebda’s physical trauma was the primary cause of death. The report also noted that the presence of THC typically points to recent use but cautioned that laboratory limitations around distinguishing delta‑8 from delta‑9 make it difficult to draw precise conclusions about timing and impairment.
Legal context
North Carolina law sets a presumptive legal blood‑alcohol limit of 0.08% for most drivers and defines impaired driving as operating a vehicle on "any highway, any street, or any public vehicular area." That language shapes how prosecutors evaluate crashes that happen on private land. Under state statute, a BAC above 0.08% can be used as evidence of impairment in criminal proceedings, although whether an ATV crash on private farmland triggers those statutes remains a question for investigators and prosecutors. Experts also warn that post‑crash toxicology is complicated, and broader analyses show THC is commonly detected in drivers involved in fatal collisions, context that makes interpreting a single result difficult, per Medical Xpress.
Lebda's role and local impact
Lebda founded LendingTree in 1996 and grew the online lending marketplace into a major Charlotte employer, moving the company into a 175,000‑square‑foot Vantage South End headquarters in 2021. LendingTree recently reported strong results and named COO Scott Peyree as CEO following Lebda's death, the company said in statements reported by The Associated Press. Outside the boardroom, Lebda was a visible local philanthropist through the Lebda Family Foundation and other efforts that supported Charlotte initiatives and rural healthcare programs.
The medical examiner report answers some of the most immediate questions about how the crash killed Lebda while raising others about what role, if any, alcohol and THC played in his decisions earlier that day. For now, the autopsy lists the manner of death as an accident caused by blunt‑force injuries to the head and abdomen, as Charlotte leaders and colleagues continue to reflect on the fintech founder's outsized presence in the city's business community.
