Police say girl accused of fatal hit-and-run had help

Police think a 14-year-old Bellmead girl accused of fatally striking a 14-year-old boy with a car and fleeing the scene had help cleaning the suspected vehicle after the accident, officials said Monday.

“The reports we have right now is that she cleaned the car,” Bellmead Police Chief Lydia Alvarado said. “We believe others are involved in that, but we need more information. . . . If anyone is found to be interfering in this investigation, there will be criminal charges.”

Alvarado did not divulge who police think helped the girl clean the car, or if more than one person helped.

The accused girl was arrested early Saturday morning on a charge of manslaughter. But questions remain about what happened Thursday night before the body of Jourdon Garrett Moore, an eighth-grader at La Vega Junior High’s George Dixon campus, was found in the dark stretch of Williams Road by a passer-by.

After public pleas by police and the victim’s family for information about the accident, authorities received an anonymous call at 7:30 p.m. Friday pointing officials in the direction of the accused girl and the suspected white Ford Taurus, which was found with extensive damage to the hood, front windshield, roof and trunk of the car, according to police.

Meanwhile, the girl, whose identity is being withheld because of her juvenile status, was ordered to remain in law enforcement custody for at least 10 business days during a detention hearing Monday.

Waco attorney Vik Deivanayagam, who represents the girl, asked 74th State District Judge Gary Coley Jr. to release the girl to her family during the hearing at the Bill Logue Juvenile Justice Center. 

“The situation still is very new. We are investigating it and we will work with the DA’s office and the local police department to aid the investigation to the extent we can,” Deivanayagam said. 

The girl’s family voluntarily surrendered the car to police and also gave police permission to search the house, the attorney said. 

Police continue to investigate whether other people may be culpable for what happened during or after the accident, Alvarado said.

No charges are filed against other people in the case.

The investigation

Moore’s family members told the Tribune-Herald that Moore left for an evening walk about 6 p.m. By about 8:30 p.m., Moore, who frequently took evening walks, stopped answering phone calls and text messages, prompting loved ones to start searching for the boy.

By that time, medical personnel and police were responding to a call from a resident who spotted what appeared to be a body lying in the 4900 block of Williams Road. It appeared that the teen had been struck by a car and dragged several hundred feet, Alvarado said.

Moore, who was still breathing but unresponsive when first responders arrived, was pronounced dead about 35 minutes later, at 9 p.m., at Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center.

In the hours that followed, police and family members requested public assistance to find who was behind the wheel of the car that hit Moore. With no witnesses, authorities had little to go on.

Moore’s family, meanwhile, expressed doubt that a driver would not have known that he or she had struck a person. Moore, they said, was 6 feet 1 inch tall and weighed about 230 pounds.

Police caught a break about 24 hours after the accident when the tipster called police to tell them about the young girl and the vehicle.

On Monday, Alvarado declined to specify an address or area of town where the suspected car was found, saying only that it was found on a large piece of property where several residences are located.

The Taurus was discovered behind a residence set far back on the property, inside a carport, she said.

The mother of the accused girl, to whom the car is registered, told police she didn’t know if her daughter had taken the car, Alvarado said, declining to name the mother of the accused girl or provide her age.

Police think the girl’s 11-year-old brother was in the car when the accident occurred, the chief said.

Police still are not sure why the girl took the car.

“One of the things they did was get something to eat,” Alvarado said, declining to elaborate where else the car may have been or where the children allegedly got food.

There was no indication that the girl knew Jourdon Moore, Alvarado said.

On Monday, the suspected car was delivered to Waco police custody, where technicians will comb it for evidence, she said.

Alvarado said the department has formally requested the assistance of the Texas Department of Public Safety for a full accident reconstruction, which should help officials unravel the details of the incident.

Deivanayagam said he hopes to have a police report submitted in the case soon so he can ask the judge again to release the girl to her family.

He declined additional comment about the case. 

Bellmead police, meanwhile, still welcome information about the case, Alvarado said, adding that “there are still some pieces” authorities need in order to wrap up the case.

Tribune-Herald staff writer Tommy Witherspoon contributed to this story.

kcrow@wacotrib.com

757-5748