A Month After Beloved Mother Killed By Hit-And-Run Driver, Family Asking For Public's Help
ONTARIO (CBSLA) — A month after a deadly hit-and-run driver killed a beloved member of an Inland Empire community, the woman's grieving family is asking the public for help.
Eighty-five-year-old Charlotte Sandoval had just gotten off the bus on Holt Boulevard in Ontario on Jan. 2 when she was fatally struck by a car. The driver never stopped, and more than a month later, the police still have no leads in the case.
"I think that's the thing that bothers me the most is not, you know, having any closure to it," Sandoval's daughter Carrie Dillman told CBS2 News.
It's been extremely tough for the family of Sandoval, who just days before was out on the street, ringing the bell for the Salvation Army. She'd done it for more than a decade.
The Chino Champion interviewed her on the street one her last times doing it.
"She loved it so much. She looked forward to it every year," said Dillman.
She and her family keep returning to the spot of the accident, hoping they'll be able to find someone who can help them find the person responsible.
"We would be more at peace knowing, and she would be fully at rest," Sandoval's daughter Donna Casto said.
They go back to the busy street looking for answers, despite the pain of imagining what her last moments were like.
Sandoval's family plans to talk to the city about installing better lighting or a crosswalk near the bus stop so nothing like this happens again.
"She was just one little step away from the house, of being safe and being alive here with us," Casto said.
Dillman said she has found it in her to forgive the hit-and-run driver.
"At first, I was very angry that happened to my mom, but now I just pray every night that the Lord forgives that person for what they did to my mother," said Dillman.
Friends of the family have a GoFundMe campaign to help raise funds for interment.
A viewing for Sandoval will be held Friday, February 23 at the Richardson Peterson Funeral Home in Ontario. A "Celebration of Life" will follow at the Ontario Salvation Army honoring her work as a volunteer and all the lives she touched.