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CLEARFIELD — A man who police say fled to California after hitting and killing a pedestrian last year was arrested this week by U.S. marshals.
Leonardo Jesus Duran Jr., 34, was charged in 2nd District Court with leaving the scene of an accident involving death and obstructing justice, third-degree felonies, and driving on a suspended or revoked license, a class C misdemeanor.
Clearfield police said in a statement that they spent "countless hours reviewing videos, conducting interviews, obtaining search warrants and following up on several investigative leads" in the case. Police say they were in contact with law enforcement in California for the past several months leading up to Duran's arrest on Monday.
On June 9, a Cadillac hit a pedestrian while the pedestrian was crossing the street. The pedestrian suffered an open tibia/fibula fracture, broken back, broken arm and he was bleeding from his face, according to the charges.
Robert Gormley, 67, later died due to his injuries.
A mechanic who witnessed the hit-and-run crash saw a white Cadillac Seville SLS from 2002 or 2003 drive north away from the scene, the charges state. Police say they also received information from a confidential informant who reported receiving "information from someone close to the suspect."
"Informant told police that the suspect had driven a cream-colored Cadillac to California recently and removed the hood of this car due to an accident and quickly sold the vehicle in California," according to the charges.
The informant said Duran had "done a hit-and-run and killed a guy," and provided Duran's name as the vehicle owner. Police found that Duran lived in Tracy, California, and that he had been stopped by Farmington police in March last year while driving a 1994 white Cadillac Seville STS, investigators said.
Police said they learned that Duran had taken his car to the home of a friend to be repaired.
"A witness reported that the vehicle had been placed in a garage by the suspect and it had damage to the headlights and windshield," the court documents allege.
When police spoke to the friend, he originally told them Duran asked to use his garage to fix his vehicle after he hit a tree branch. But police say they found a piece of windshield with blood in Robinson's garage, that was found through testing to match the victim. Cellphone data also showed the friend in the area of the hit-and-run at the time, according to the charges.
The friend was charged with obstructing justice in connection to the case and pleaded guilty to the class A misdemeanor in April, according to court records.
Police said the friend told them he was a passenger in the Cadillac while Duran was driving from Brigham City to the Layton area and they were about to get on the freeway when a man "walked directly in front of the Cadillac," and outside of a crosswalk, according to the charges.
The friend told investigators that after hitting the pedestrian, Duran pulled over and stopped for about 10 to 15 seconds and then continued driving to Brigham City, court documents state. The friend told police Duran took his vehicle to his house to repair it so he "would not be caught and charged with hitting the pedestrian."
