Florida’s Polk County.According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, a Lakeland lady was taken into custody Friday in relation to a hit-and-run accident that claimed a life four days prior.
According to a press release from the sheriff’s office, Aliya Cruz, 24, will be charged with fleeing the scene of a fatal collision.
According to the announcement, around 4 a.m. on August 18, a woman was seen lying in the center of W Highland Street in Lakeland by a 911 caller. Although there was no vehicle present, the sheriff’s office said that the woman, identified as 27-year-old Danielle Stilwell, was dead and that there were broken car parts nearby.
According to the announcement, nearby dealerships assisted investigators in identifying that the car parts found at the location would have belonged to a 2019–22 Kia Forte. According to the announcement, deputies canvassing the crash scene while looking over surveillance footage from a nearby Sunoco saw a black vehicle that was captured on camera heading west from the crash scene on W Highland Street.
According to the sheriff’s office, deputies saw a black 2019–22 Kia Forte parked in the driveway of a home along W Highland Street after looking through a list of vehicles registered in Polk County. According to the announcement, it was lacking the identical car pieces that were discovered close to Stilwell.
Cruz, the vehicle’s sole owner and operator, was shortly found and questioned by detectives, according to the announcement. Cruz allegedly claimed to have swerved to avoid a woman who was lying on the road in front of her with her hands covering her face while she was going to work. She did not stop, however, because she did not want to be late.
According to the release, detectives then received information from Cruz’s managers at work, who said that Cruz showed them photos of the damage to her car and warned them she might have killed someone.
She showed him pictures of her car’s damage. He suggested that she report it by calling the police. I don’t really want to say anything, I know I didn’t strike them, I don’t think I hit the person, and I know I swerved, she added.
When Cruz was examined by investigators again on August 22, 2025, she told them that she had taken pictures of the damage to her car when she arrived at work that morning, shown them to her boss, and expressed her concern since she wasn’t sure if she had hit the person or not. “What should I do?” she asked him. According to him, she ought to have stopped and called the police.
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