A deadly hit-and-run crash killed a mother and son early Friday morning on State Road 82 near west of Gregory Avenue in Lehigh Acres
According to Florida Highway Patrol, Mother and son Katherine Cujas, 46, and Ronald Cujas, 26, both of North Fort Myers were the fatal victims of the crash.
“Our goal right now is to determine the facts of what happened,” Lt. Greg Bueno told WINK News. “We have a family that has suffered a tragedy this morning.”
The mother and son were standing on the side of SR-82 after Ronald’s black truck had a blown tire and Katherine had responded in her white truck to assist him.
Then, a red pickup truck traveled toward them westbound on SR-82 and swiped both their trucks, hitting Katherine and Ronald and killing them both. Investigators say the driver of the red truck swerved over the curb of the road and then got back onto SR-82 and kept going.
“Our hearts go out to [the family], and we wanna do our diligence and determine exactly what happened,” Bueno said. “And we will hold anyone who is responsible.”
FHP says a possible description of the vehicle is a red 3500 Dodge pick up truck, model years possibly between 2000 to 2002. Below is an edited photo of what the vehicle may look like based on FHP’s very specific description.
Helicopters flew near the scene to see if the vehicle was ditched nearby.
Forensics team members were on scene assisting in the investigation. In order to solve a hit-an-run case like this, investigators must find the truck and prove who was driving it at the time of the crash, which is why the scene remained active for several hours.
There was a complete roadblock along SR-82 at the scene of the crash for the majority of the day before it was cleared.
Florida Highway Patrol hopes more witnesses will come forward to help investigative efforts.
“We strongly encourage anyone that knows anything, whether it is the vehicle, the driver, or a pre-crash situation or post-crash situation,” Bueno said. “Certainly, let us know, so that we can investigate further.”