Woman Didn't Stop After Fatal Hit-and-Run to Not Be Late, Told Boss She 'Possibly Killed Someone': Police

Deputies with the Polk County Sheriff's Office first got involved when they received a 911 call just before 4 a.m. on August 18 about a woman lying in the middle of West Highland Street in Lakeland. When first responders arrived, they found that the woman, identified as Danielle Stilwell, 27, was deceased.

There were broken vehicle parts around her body, according to a press release from the Sheriff's Office, but no vehicle. Luckily, one of the parts -- a front driver's side fender line -- had a part number, which helped them to determine the make and model, narrowing down the production years from 2019 to 2022.

Surveillance footage from a Sunoco gas station nearby showed a vehicle matching this description taking a right turn at the intersection to head north on Wabash Avenue before taking an immediate U-turn on the road to head south and then another right to get back on West Highland, per the release. It then turned right and left the scene, with deputies suspecting this might be their suspect.

In a review of the video, Law&Crime reports they were unable to confirm if there had been a truck driving toward Cruz, as she allegedly stated, before she made her right turn and U-turn to get back on her regular route. "[T]here isn't anything [on the video] to corroborate her story," the Sheriff's Office told the outlet in an email.

After reviewing the footage, the investigation led deputies to anyone owning a similar car, and ultimately to a vehicle missing components consistent with what was at the crash scene at a nearby home. The owner of the vehicle was Aliya Cruz, 24, who allegedly admitted to police that she was the one who'd hit the pedestrian, detailing exactly what happened.

Cruz told deputies that she had left for work at a nearby warehouse at approximately 3:50 a.m. that morning, and that she had to be there by 4 a.m. She said she took her usual route, but on this day, "a truck approached her from the opposite direction with high beam lights on, impairing her vision," per the release.

When the truck turned right, she "observed a woman lying on the roadway in front of her with her hands over her face." Cruz said she swerved into the grass to avoid this woman and "believed that she did not hit the person but she was not sure."

She then said she turned right at the light, made a U-turn in the middle of the road and went back to her original route, fleeing the accident scene, "because she did not want to be late to work."

Deputies then went to Cruz's place of employment, where they were able to verify her timely arrival on security cameras and badge access readers. One of her supervisors told investigators, per the release, that she told him that day that she had "possibly killed someone."

He further said that Cruz showed him pictures of the damage to her car and that he advised her to call the police and report it. In response, the supervisor told police that Cruz made responses like, "I don't really want to say anything," "Well uhm, I know I didn't hit them," "I don't think I hit the person," and "I know I swerved."

In a follow-up interview on August 22, Cruz confirmed what her boss told them, admitting that she'd asked him what she should do as "she was worried because she was unsure if she struck the person or not. She was then taken into custody and hit with a first-degree felony charge of with leaving the scene of a crash involving death.

Cruz was able to pay her $50,000 bond and was released on August 24 rom Polk County Jail, per an inmate lookup reported on by The Ledger, pending her next court appearance.