Let me start with the obvious: people who commit crimes—whether on purpose or by accident—almost always think they can outsmart law enforcement. And almost always—they don’t.
Two women, in a relationship for about two months, traveled to visit one of their mothers who lived several states away. One night, while the women were visiting, a citizen called the emergency center to report a dead body on the side of the expressway.
There were no skid marks or vehicle parts to show an accident had occurred. Near the victim, officers found a cell phone belonging to the victim. They found another cell phone on the roadway.
The woman who’d lost her cell phone tracked the location of her cell phone. Her phone was at the Criminal Investigation Division of the U.S. Park Police (under the National Park Services)—the jurisdiction based on where the body was found. She called about her cell phone. They went to her mother's home and asked her to answer some questions—she did.
Her first story: Using her mother’s vehicle, she was driving two friends to their home when one woman started hitting the driver. She pulled off to the side of the road and told them both to get out—they walked away.
The woman gave the investigating officers permission to search her cell phone and her mother gave them permission to search her vehicle. As they left the mother’s home, they noticed an SUV parked down the street with a personalized license plate with the same name as the victim. Upon looking into the SUV, they determined it belonged to the victim. They seized the vehicle.
The SUV had damage to the hood, front grill and passenger running board.
Her second story: She drove the friend’s SUV with the friend as a passenger. There wasn’t a third person in the vehicle. The passenger began assaulting the driver, so she pulled onto the shoulder of the expressway. The passenger got out and picked up a rock or a brick then walked toward the vehicle. Fearing for her life, the driver drove straight at her friend, ran her over, and left her there to die.
Charge with second-degree murder, the case went to trial. After eight days, the jury found the 30-year-old woman guilty of voluntary manslaughter. A judge sentenced her to nine years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release. #hitandrun #relationships #murder
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Washington Blade
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