Sentenced: 2YO VA Girl Who'd Beaten Odds After Premature Birth Is Killed in Alleged Hit-and-Run

[Sugar Cookie]

A Virginia toddler is dead after she wandered away from her grandmother's yard and into the road, where she was struck in a hit-and-run collision.

On Saturday, two-year-old Aubree-Ann Celine was fatally struck by a driver. According to her mother, Aubree-Ann had been visiting her grandmother in Opal when she wandered out of the yard into the road, NBC4 reports.

When Fauquier County deputies responded to calls reporting a pedestrian struck, they found one motorist helping the toddler in the middle of the road, the sheriff's office said in a news release obtained by PEOPLE. The driver involved in the incident was nowhere to be found.

The little girl was immediately transported to a local hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries. The sheriff's office put out a warrant for the driver's arrest.

On Sunday, the driver, Jose Santiago Mendoza, 65, of Bladensburg, Maryland, was arrested. He is being held in Fauquier County Adult Detention Center with no bond, according to the news release. Mendoza turned himself in, NBC4 reports.

According to her family, Aubree-Ann had been born prematurely at just 27 weeks.

"[She] fought hard entering this world. She was born premature at only 2 lbs 12 oz, and was SUCH a fighter. She broke barriers and passed milestones, fighting her way out of the NICU and came home a strong, sassy, sweet babygirl," the GoFundMe page states. "She gave her mommy a new purpose and a fresh start. Aubree would have been 3 years old on September 17th 2021."

2-Year-Old Va. Girl Who'd Beaten Odds After Premature Birth Is Killed in Alleged Hit-and-Run

"Aubree was a beautiful little girl full of love and life, and a momma's girl through and through," the organizer of a GoFundMe page wrote

people.com

 

[Victoria]

Look at the laughter and mischief in those beautiful blue eyes.

Grateful that the driver found the courage to turn himself in.

 

[Sugar Cookie]

 

[Sugar Cookie]

 

[Satanica]

I'm trying to be understanding, but it sounds like grandma let the kid go outside by herself knowing there is a road next to her property. She wasn't outside with her?

 

[Sejanus]

No fence?

 

[Sugar Cookie]

Defendant: MENDOZA, JOSE SANTIAGO

Charge: HIT & RUN DEATH OR INJURY
Disposition: GUILTY
Disposition Date: 11/10/2022
Concluded By: GUILTY PLEA
Jail/Penitentiary: PENITENTIARY

Sentence Time: 2 Year(s)
Sentence Suspended: 1 Year(s) 11 Month(s) 12 Day(s)
Probation Type: SUPERVISED
Probation Time: 2 Year(s)
Probation Starts: PROBATION TO BEGIN UPON SENTENCING