JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Family members of the 8-year-old girl who was killed in a hit-and-run crash on Friday are speaking out about the kind of person she was after two people were arrested for the crime.
On Monday, the Florida Highway Patrol announced new details about the person accused of hitting Lauren Peterson, revealing the original man arrested was trying to cover for his wife.
Family member said she was only about two minutes away from her home – riding her bike with her friend – when a car hit her on U.S. 90 near Sands Motel.
Now, family members are left with memories.
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“She always smiled. She had a heart of gold,” Peterson’s grandmother Vanilla Hill said.
Lauren was a sister.
“She loved to argue and fight with me and do TikToks with me,” Lauren’s brother Jaiden Fulton said.
She was a daughter.
“Right before she got out of the car, I told her I love her and she told me she loved me back and that was it,” Lauren’s father Cullen Peterson said.
And she was a granddaughter.
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“It feels like a bad dream, I can’t believe it, I still don’t believe it,” Lauren’s paternal grandmother Tomeko Larson said.
Family members said a driver hit her on U.S. 90 and left her to die.
“It makes me angry; it makes me hurt and sad that this person had no compassion,” Lauren’s grandfather Michael Wilson said.
The Florida Highway Patrol had originally arrested Julio Marquez, accusing him of the deadly hit and run. On Monday, the agency announced he lied about the crash to cover for his wife, Kenia Gonzalez. Investigators said surveillance video proved that he was at work and that she was the driver who hit Peterson.
“I just hate that they ran her over and left her on the street and didn’t take accountability,” Cullen said.
Family members are devastated.
“You took something from us that we will never get back,” Wilson said.
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In March, she was supposed to celebrate her ninth birthday with other family birthdays.
“The other grandkids – like one birthday is on the 8th, one is on the 10th, mine is on the 19th and hers is on the 31st,” Wilson said. “And we were all just planning on having one big birthday party to celebrate our birthdays together. But instead of celebration, we are making plans for a funeral, and that’s not right.”
Kenia Gonzalez is in jail facing a $1 million bond in connection with the deadly hit-and-run. Meanwhile, her husband is in jail facing a $50,000 bond and charged with accessory after the fact – a third-degree felony.
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