Arrest made in Hyde Park hit-and-run that left teen dead

We begin this hour with breaking news here. Police say a suspect is behind bars in connection to a South L.A. hit and run that left a teenage boy dead and his sister badly injured. Let's get to Gigi right now live in South L.A. with the story. Gigi. And certainly a very emotional day for this neighborhood that really rallied around the Martinez family. After 16-year-old Hernan Martinez, he was killed just days after he turned 16. Here is a memorial to him, some family members asking for justice. And the LAPD saying today justice will be served because they have now arrested the hit and run suspect. Accused of crashing her car right into him, then crashing into a parked car and running away, never stopping to help the Martinez family. Joining me now live, LAPD detective Ryan Moreno, the man behind this investigation. I know it was the entire agency worked on finding this suspect. You've identified her as Regine Glentisha Evans, and it was quite the manhunt for her. Yeah, it was. This incident took place on September 22nd, so it took over a month to come to this arrest. But like we said last week, after exhausting a bunch of different tactics we were using in this investigation, we decided to go to the media last week and ask for the public's help. It paid off big time for us through some tips and a lot of work behind the scenes with different entities within the LAPD. We were able to locate, find, and arrest Miss Evans yesterday afternoon. And talk to me, she's no stranger to law enforcement. She's a person of interest in multiple crimes, including burglaries, I believe, at least 10 of them here in LA. Yeah, once we identified her, we started looking into her past and we ended up learning that she was involved in several robberies, SC robberies, a month prior to this. And some incidents happening up in the Valley, too, area. So yeah, she's involved in a lot of stuff that's going on. And let's talk about, Detective, what happened September 22nd, 9.30 at night. Mom, her daughter, and her son, they're crossing the street here. When you believe Evans driving a car that she rented was doing about 80 miles an hour in a residential area and slammed right into this family that was crossing the street, killing a man right away. And mom managed to pull her daughter Vicky away, but she was also hit, and she was seriously injured. Yeah, it's unfortunate. You know, the Martinez family did something normal that everyone does every day, go for a walk in your own neighborhood. And unfortunately, they were struck in the process of doing so. The thing that's disturbing about it is when you watch the video that we have, they walked up to the corner, they do the right thing, they stop, a vehicle stopped, everybody did, like, the right thing, and the vehicle continued. So trusting the public that they're going to do the right thing and, you know, yield to the pedestrians. Here comes a suspect vehicle coming off of Crenshaw, coming eastbound on 60th. And we got it going. We're still waiting to get the exact speed, but near upwards of 80 miles per hour, coming eastbound and not even stopping at a stop sign behind us. So you can imagine that kind of impact, especially when you're with your kids. It's, you know, That's not the worst part. I mean, the worst part is she killed this young man. She continued on, she crashes into a parked car, she's got a friend, another girl inside the car with her, and they just take off running, but they stop to grab a bunch of stuff that's in the rental car, and they never stop to help this family. Yeah, correct. I mean, that's the sad part is after this happened, instead of trying to stop and help and get aid and call for an ambulance and get some medical aid, they took off, took their stuff out of the car and took off running south down here away from the scene. What was even more disturbing was we ended up getting more surveillance video and seeing Ms. Evans on her cell phone while she was running. And about two minutes later, a car waiting for them picks them up, takes her out of the scene. So we had released video on that car too that we want those people to for aiding and abetting for contributing to this crime. And you've actually identified the woman that she was with as Joneigh Chauvin-Rosby. And you're also looking for her. Yeah, correct. We're still waiting to locate her. And what we do know about Ms. Rosby is she's involved in a lot of crimes here in the area, too. There was already a community crime alert that put themselves of her at nighttime breaking into cars and houses and stuff. So we already have a community that's kind of looking for her, too. But we'd like to talk to her as well. You and I, we were talking off camera. You're a dad, and I know you've seen the worst of the worst, and this is your job. This is your nine to five. But this one really hit you hard. This little boy, and he's still a little boy, he's 16. He had just turned 16 a few days before this, and he dies right here on the street. And everyone rushes to help, but the person who caused it never stopped. Yeah, it's hurtful. I mean, it's hard. You come to a scene like this and all the officers involved and the fire department, everybody, and, you know, most folks have kids. And it's hard to kind of disconnect sometimes because this could be you doing something normal, like just going for a walk. But that actually made this case feel a little bit more, I'd say, personal. It's emotional for you. It's hard. You know, it's when you start seeing Maria, the mom, and the pain that she's in, the extended family, it hits home. Because you start seeing what we really want to, you know, catch this person and bring justice to the family. This person that you're looking for, the passenger, she's actually wanted for aiding and abetting one of the possible charges she could be facing, as well as the people who picked up Evans here because she called someone and said, hey, pick me up. Yeah, correct. The strange thing is, right place, right time, I guess, but the video we got with the car picking Miss Evans up that evening, there's audio to it, so you can actually hear them Telling her, get in the car, let's go, whatever. But yeah, we're looking for all of them. So we're hoping the public will help us out with that too. All right, so a big investigation, I know you worked, LAPD worked with a lot of agencies, a lot of your own internal departments. You guys have this arrest warrant for murder, Evans now facing charges of murder. She is being held, her bail set at over $3 million. And my last question to you, and again, you've seen so much, you've arrested so many people. Often suspects show remorse, especially when they've been on the run and you've seen it before. They sort of like, okay, finally you caught me. I don't have to hide anymore. You said that one thing that really hit you hard was she didn't appear to show any remorse for the death of a 16 year old boy. Yeah, I mean, usually, again, this whole investigation took a little over a month. The whole cat-and-mouse game of hiding and hide-and-seek and find me, usually after that long a time, people are exhausted, and they're kind of relieved that they were caught, and then the emotional side comes out of actually what happened, what they did, and what they were running from. So you get sometimes people that are really, really apologetic, very sorry. They want to talk to the family and what have you. Then you get the other kind that they don't care at all. They're very stoic and just kind of... And not to say because it's Halloween and all that, but very kind of Michael Myers type where there's just kind of like no emotion at all. And it's like, it's really sad. That's a real sad thing. No remorse for the death of a 16-year-old boy, for leaving a young girl in a wheelchair with injuries very seriously, and having this all happen in front of their mother. Yeah, correct. You know, it's just sad. But for us, we're just glad that we ended up getting to this arrest. Again, it took everybody's help. Our guys, a lot of people behind the scenes work with the LAPD within and then the public too. This was one where it was a real partnership, joint effort with the community to come to this conclusion here with this arrest. See something, say something. Detective Ryan Moreno of the LAPD, thank you very much. A little relief. Council member Marquise Harris-Dawson was here and he said, you know, there are really no happy endings. This doesn't bring back none, but it does provide a little bit of relief. A little bit of closure. We understand that Vicky, the young girl that was injured, she hasn't been sleeping because she was afraid that the person who did this was still out there and that she was, in a way, a witness and this person could be coming after her. There could be retaliation. There could be further events. And so the family's saying that at least it brings a little bit. Of relief, so congratulations to the LAPD for taking the suspect into custody. I know the family mentioned they were very thankful to them. Reporting live, I'm Gigi Gracia, I'll send it back to you. Heartbreaking all the way around, Gigi, all right, thank you so much.