KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City, Missouri, man has been charged in the September death of Valeria Villa-Alvarado.
Villa-Alvarado, a secretary at East High School, was killed in a hit-and-run crash at East 12th Street and Bales Avenue on Sept. 17.
Her two children were injured in the crash.
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KCPD said the crash happened when another driver ran a stop sign and hit Villa-Alvarado's vehicle. The other driver fled on foot.
The Jackson County Prosecutor's Office announced Wednesday that Arnold L. King, 23, is charged with first-degree involuntary manslaughter, leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death and first-degree tampering with a motor vehicle. All three charges are felonies and a warrant has been filed against King.
Court documents state that King was driving a stolen vehicle at high speeds at the time of the crash. There was also a passenger in the vehicle who also fled the scene.
KCPD officers located the passenger a ways away. They were limping down Indiana Avenue and had lacerations on both legs with a bleeding knee cap. That person told officers they were thrown out of a moving vehicle on Cypress Avenue and said they had walked from the same area where the crash happened.
At the hospital, the passenger was interviewed by police and said they were working as a prostitute in the area when they were picked up by a man they described as having the same appearance as King. The man asked for sexual favors and smelled of marijuana, according to the passenger. They also stated the driver appeared to be under the influence of PCP.
Crash investigators found marijuana and a fully loaded Glock 23 in the crashed car.
The passenger said the driver noticed a marked police vehicle so he began driving at a high rate of speed. The passenger said they asked to be let out and the man stopped and let them out in the area of East 9th Street and Bales Avenue.
A witness at the scene of the crash said the man driving exited the vehicle and kept repeating, "I need to go to the hospital," before he took off. That witness positively identified King from a series of six photos in a lineup.
Documents show that KCPD was able to locate the stolen vehicle's license plates on traffic cameras prior to the crash. The vehicle had stopped at a gas station at one point, and the manager of the store let police review surveillance video.
Police also received anonymous tips that King, also known as "Truck," was driving the stolen vehicle. The tipster also said King went to the University of Kansas Hospital to be treated but left when staff told him they would have to call the authorities.
The anonymous caller also advised King had cut off his dreadlocks and was bragging about not being caught.
The University of Kansas Hospital confirmed King checked into the facility and found surveillance video of him entering the emergency room with several unknown people and then leaving with those people later.
Wyandotte County officials approved a search warrant in October for King's medical records. A swab of blood from the crash scene matched up with King's identification.
Meanwhile, court documents show it was determined that the stolen vehicle was traveling 51 miles per hour in a 25 mile-per-hour zone. The vehicle's computer data also showed that the rate of speed was increasing at the time of the crash with no breaking.
The probable cause information for the hit-and-run and the warrant were both filed on Nov. 22.
King does not appear to be in police custody at this time.
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