In Wake Of Hit-And-Run Death, Modesto Family Hit By Tragedy Twice Reflects On Murdered 24-Year-Old
MODESTO (CBS13) — A hit-and-run collision that left a grandmother dead in Modesto is the second tragic crime to hit the same family in just the past few years.
Modesto Police are looking for the suspect that hit and killed Irene Arellano Lopez as she walked in a crosswalk on Chapman Road and Pelandale Avenue Wednesday night.
RELATED: Modesto Grandmother Killed In Hit And Run, Police Still Searching For Driver
Lopez's tragic death comes four years after the murder of a family member. Salvador Rodriguez, who had special needs, was murdered in 2014 at the age of 24. His killer has not been caught.
Rodriguez's mother Laura Sanchez is hoping the investigation into Lopez's death puts a new spotlight on the family tragedy from four years ago.
"I don't know what his last words, what he was saying, I don't know nothing," Sanchez said. "It's like, to not be able to say goodbye, or was he asking for me?"
Sanchez said her son had the mental capacity of a child.
"He had the mind of a like a ten-year-old," Sanchez said.
Rodrigue's body was found near a Highway 99 off-ramp in May of 2014. Police determined he was murdered, but have not released his manner of death, or any motives in the case.
Rodriguez volunteered at the Modesto library, loved riding the bus, playing Pokemon, and drinking soda.
"Nobody could miss him," Sanchez said. "He always carried two liters of soda...you know?"
Now as police look for whoever is responsible for Lopez's hit-and-run death, the family is hoping it could also lead to more attention on Salvador Rodriguez unsolved murder case. And some closure for this family hit with deadly tragedy. Twice.
"I know closure will come one day," Sanchez said. "I know it will."
