An arrest has been made in a 2023 hit-and-run crash that killed 24-year-old Isela Andrade in northwest Harris County.
On Aug. 19, 2023, Andrade got out of her boyfriend’s car and began walking home after the couple had an argument. She was hit by a vehicle near the 11500 block of W. Little York Rd. at around 4:20 a.m. The driver responsible fled the scene and didn’t attempt to help her.
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Andrade would later die from the injuries she sustained in the crash.
More than a year later, Rogelio Martinez, 62, was charged with failure to stop and render aid. Police believe that Martinez was driving the truck that struck the young woman.
According to court documents, investigators found three pieces of shattered headlight lenses near the scene of the crash and concluded that they must belong to the vehicle involved. After inquiring with a local Toyota dealership, officials were able to determine that the lens was from a late-1990s or early-2000s Toyota Tacoma truck.
From there, investigators found footage from the surveillance cameras at two nearby businesses that showed Andrade being hit by a white pickup truck before the vehicle sped away from the scene.
In September of 2023, Harris County criminal intelligence officials were made aware of a white Tacoma with damage consistent with the incident. The vehicle was registered to Martinez.
Authorities questioned Martinez about the suspicious damage later that month, and he said that his headlight was hit while he was backing a trailer, and he hadn’t been involved in any recent accidents. Police obtained a search warrant for his phone records. The search revealed that his phone was pinged off towers that placed him at the scene of the crash during the timeframe of the incident.
Martinez’s bond was set at $30,000.