Detectives: 15-year-old driver targeted Issaquah hit-and-run victim

Nearly three months after her 21-year-old son was killed by a hit and run driver, Grisel Lozoya begged a juvenile court judge not to release the 15-year-old boy who detectives say intentionally veered an SUV into the victim, then hid the evidence.

The judge listened and agreed to hold the boy in detention, calling him a threat to public safety. KIRO 7 agreed not to show or name the suspect, because he is a juvenile.

"At least his mom and dad, they're going to see him again," Lozoya told the judge. "I'm never going to see my son again."

State Patrol detectives spent weeks putting fractured pieces of the mystery together, until they say it all clicked. They say Lozoya and the juvenile suspect attended the same party in Issaquah on May 28. While Lozoya and his friends were leaving at 1 a.m., detectives say the 15-year-old intentionally targeted Lozoya and his friends while they were walking along a road, after one of them allegedly made flirtatious comments to the suspect's female relative.

Detectives believe the suspect was driving a 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee, and veered directly into Lazoya, intending to scare his group. A passenger in the SUV eventually told detectives the suspect knew he had hit something, but never stopped to check.

Lozoya was supposed to fly to Denver eight hours after he was hit to enroll at the University of Colorado where he planned to study Criminal Justice. "He told me he wanted to become the best detective in the state of Washington," his mother said.

Weeks later, the SUV was found hidden in a wooded area four miles from the scene of the accident. Detectives say it was still running, with a sandbag depressing the accelerator. The SUV had been auctioned and "flipped" for cash, and was not registered to any owner.

Over the next few days, detectives matched the evidence and a few tips to the suspect, who was arrested in Issaquah on Wednesday.

Lozoya noticed the suspect was smiling in court when he looked at her.

"To me he didn't have any remorse," she said. "He was just like, 'What time is it going to finish?' It's like nothing happened."

Lozoya is hoping the 15-year-old suspect will be charged as an adult.

"It's not going to bring my son back," she said. "But he's going to at least rest in peace."

Cox Media Group