Police investigate deadly hit-and-run

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Police said a woman found dead in an apartment complex parking lot was hit by a car, and vehicular homicide investigators are now looking for the person responsible.

It happened just after 2 a.m. Friday at 1600 Wickersham Lane in Southeast Austin at the Ion at East End Apartments. The woman was in her 20s.

A man, also in his 20s, was taken to University Medical Center Brackenridge for injuries. There is no word on his condition.

APD officers went through the parking lot searching for a car that was involved.  Police are still looking for information and don't have a description of the car.

If you have any information call the APD Vehicular Homicide Unit at 512-974-4724.

According to police, this is Austin's 17th fatal traffic crash and 18th traffic fatality of 2013. At this time in 2012, there were 14 traffic fatalities. This year alone, there have been 63 failure to stop and render aid cases in Austin. That number is down slightly from this time last year, when there were 72.

Apartment employees said management is checking their tenant and vehicle registries to see if it leads to any more clues about the identity of the driver.

Recent hit-and-run incidents

There were at least three hit-and-runs in Travis County during February.

Police suspect a hit-and-run wreck killed a man on the southbound access road of Interstate 35 near Corral Lane in South Austin. The 911 calls came in at 3:49 a.m. Feb. 22, and officers found a man dead on the road.

A motorcyclist in mid-February had to have his left foot amputated after the driver in a dump truck crashed into him and never stopped.

That wreck happened on a Friday around 6:40 a.m. on FM 973, between Burleson Road and FM 812 when the dump truck side-swiped the biker.

The motorcyclist suffered serious foot and hand injuries, which ended up with his foot amputated.

At last check, authorities were still looking for the driver of the dump truck. If you have any information, please call Deputy Paul Cossette with the Sheriff's Office Traffic Enforcement Office at 512-854-4321.

Five days later, a man died after being hit by a truck and a sedan while crossing the frontage road of Interstate 35 near U.S. 183 late that Sunday night.

Witnesses told police a red pickup truck hit the man first, followed by a dark-colored four-door sedan. Within a couple of hours, a woman called 911 to report she may have hit a person. 

Police have processed her sedan for evidence. So far, no charges have been filed.

Gabrielle Nestande hit-and-run trial

Hit-and-run incidents have taken center stage in Austin as the high-profile case of Gabrielle Nestande -- surrounding the death of Courtney Griffin -- unfolded in late February.

Facing four felony charges, on Feb. 21 Nestande got convicted of criminally negligent homicide in the May 2011 death.

The jury handed down the verdict after three days of deliberation, and a day after that, they sentenced her to a 10-year suspended sentence. That means she will serve no jail time on the recommendation of the jury.

Hit-and-run trial: Man accused of killing deaf jogger

Roman Jesus Turullos-Gonzalez is charged with failure to stop and render aid -- a third-degree felony -- in the death of Mark Gobble, 38.

Turullos-Gonzalez had a pretrial hearing earlier this week in the case surrounding the death that happened this past summer.

Gobble was out jogging on an early Sunday morning when he was hit by a car. Gobble was deaf and a former administrator and instructor at Texas School for the Deaf.

Turullos-Gonzalez turned himself in to police in mid-June 2012 after they had been asking the public for help in finding him.

In-Depth: The statistics

Last year turned out to be a record-setting year for traffic deaths in Austin. In 2012 alone, police said there were 12 people hit and killed by cars in Austin where the person in the car did not stop.

Austin police have been asking for help in solving two hit-and-run deaths from the past three weeks. In each case, the driver sped away after a man was hit and killed.

In addition to cases involving a hit-and-run, the number of people leaving the scene of minor crashes is increasing in Austin. In fact, the department created a special unit just to deal with this type of case.

Officials said there were 9,500 reports of people leaving the scene of a minor crash in 2012, which is about 800 cases each month. Less than 300 of those have a viable lead.

Pedestrian deaths in Austin

Pedestrian crashes have been on the rise. They rose sharply in 2011 citywide.

Some 17 people were killed in auto-pedestrian crashes in Austin in 2011, up from 10 deaths in 2010.

APD has documented 128 intersections citywide that are dangerous for pedestrians -- those with 3 or more accidents since 2008.

Police are being reassigned to the city's most dangerous areas for pedestrians. A new strategy focuses on groups of officers saturating areas where there have been a large number of auto-pedestrian crashes.

Most dangerous intersections

for walkers

Congress & Cesar Chavez	8
5th & Lavaca	8
Lamar & St Johns	7
Congress & Woodward (Lightsey)	7
100 4th (E*W)	6
9300 I 35 S WF	6
Riverside Dr & Crossing Pl	6
Bluebonnet & Lamar	6
700 7th E	6
Congress & 4th	6
600 Congress S	5
Lavaca & 6th	5
Lamar & Manchaca Rd	5
Jollyville & Braker	5
Lamar & Rutland	5
1st St & Riverside	5
1600 Congress S	5
Jones & Manchaca	5
Barton Springs & 1st St	5
1300 Congress S	5
100 8th (e*w)	5
600 1st S	5
Barton Springs & Robert E Lee	5
Guadalupe & 38th St W	5
1700 Rutland	5
Congress & Barton Springs	5
Congress & Alpine/Pickle	4
Riverside & Tinnin Ford (also Burton)	4
1000 41ST ST E	4
Lamar & Rundberg	4
Congress Av & 7th St E	4
Congress & 2nd	4
100 Riverside (E&W)	4
5700 Manchaca	4
Riverside & Royal Crest	4
Riverside Dr & Montopolis	4
Nueces & 21st	4
Airport & 12th	4
Red River & 12th	4
500 San Jacinto	4
1200 Congress S	4
1100 AIRPORT BLVD	4
Congress & 3rd	4
Guadalupe & 5th	4
Capital of Texas & Waymaker	4
Barton Springs & Riverside	4
9200 North Plz	4
Capital of Texas & Wildridge	4
Guadalupe & 29th St	4
45th & Shoal Creek	4
800 Rutland	4
7th & San Jacinto	4
2400 Guadalupe	4
11066 Pecan Park Bl	4
Speedway & 30th	3
600 Barton Springs	3
Manchaca & Slaughter	3
45th & Red River	3
2000 Oltorf E	3
12100 Metric Bl	3
600 Red River	3
2300 Lamar S	3
San Jacinto & 4th	3
2500 Congress S	3
Parmer & Metric	3
MLK & San Jacinto	3
3900 Congress S	3
2500 Riverside E	3
Lamar & 51st	3
Congress S & Industrial	3
Barton Springs & Dawson	3
3500 Lamar S	3
2215 Town Lake Ci	3
I 35 SB Svc Rd & 6th St	3
Guadalupe & 2nd	3
Dean Keeton & Harris Park (Park Pl)	3
Congress & MLK	3
800 Rundberg W	3
Wm Cannon & Bluff Springs	3
I 35 SB Svc Rd & 7th	3
710 Ben White E	3
24th & Nueces	3
2200 Guadalupe	3
1st St & Ben White EB Svc Rd	3
San Antonio & 3rd W	3
Red River & 8th St	3
Lamar & Barton Skyway	3
7th & Red River	3
5th & West	3
1900 William Cannon W	3
1900 Oltorf E	3
Speedway & 35th	3
Guadalupe & Dean Keeton	3
Riverside & Grove Blvd	3
Congress & Oltorf	3
7th & Pleasant Valley	3
4400 Riverside E	3
1600 Barton Springs	3
12901 I 35 N EF	3
Wm Cannon & S. Congress	3
Manor & Susquehanna	3
Lamar & Morrow	3
8900 Lamar N	3
8071 Lamar Bl N	3
Riverside & Wickersham	3
I 35 NB Svc Rd & Ben White E eb	3
Guadalupe & 8th	3
500 6th E	3
300 MLK W	3
Rutland & Mearns Meadow	3
Brodie & Silk Oak	3
Nueces & 5th	3
Lamar & Lamar Square	3
6600 Elm Creek	3
500 5th W	3
400 7th E	3
2100 Burton	3
1900 Guadalupe	3
Congress Av & 5th St	3
2110 Slaughter W	3
Lamar & 10th	3
West Gate & Jones	3
San Jacinto & 6th St	3
500 Canyon Ridge W	3
2200 Oltorf E	3
11900 Jollyville	3
Lamar & Oltorf	3
9616 Lamar N	3