CYPRESS, Texas (KTRK) -- A 17-year-old has been charged in a deadly hit-and-run crash that went without an arrest for nearly two months.
In an update Monday morning, Harris County Precinct 4 announced that 17-year-old Destin Quintero has been arrested and charged with failure to stop and render aid -- accident involving death.
He turned himself in at the sheriff's office over the weekend, Pct. 4 said on Monday. Court records show he has been released from jail on a $50,000 bond.
Caleb Rickenbacher, 20, was killed during the hit-and-run, and his girlfriend, Christina Diaz, calls these developments "bittersweet."
"It was like that instant connection that you get with someone. You just bond right away. You click right away," Diaz said, looking back at what she lost.
She and Rickenbacher had been dating for about one year when investigators said Quintero went on a crime spree that culminated with him colliding with them almost head-on in a stolen car. Diaz said Caleb swerved at the last second and likely saved her life.
"It's hard because the accident plays in my head," Diaz said. "Every day when I wake up, it's the first thing on my mind. It's been almost two months since it happened, and it still feels like it was just yesterday. I hope one day I can forgive him, because that's what God would want, but I can't right now."
Deputies said the suspect left his cellphone in a stolen Jeep Grand Cherokee before he fled the scene, and that's how investigators were able to track him down.
The crash happened on Nov. 19 near the intersection of Cypress Rosehill Road and Huffmeister, deputies said. The driver was going the wrong way in a stolen Jeep when he hit the 20-year-old.
ORIGINAL REPORT: Suspect caught on video running away from stolen Jeep after deadly wrong-way crash, deputies say
Data from the stolen Jeep showed it was traveling 91 mph at 100% accelerator, court documents stated. The driver's seat reportedly did not have the seatbelt buckled 0.10 seconds before the collision.
According to court documents, the Jeep was stolen from a Holiday Inn near Grand Parkway and Holzwarth Road in the Spring area the night before the crash. The owner of the Jeep said a handgun was also stolen from the vehicle.
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The suspect reportedly broke into several other vehicles in the parking lot that night. At least six other vehicle burglaries were reported, documents state.
After the crash, witnesses reported seeing a Black man wearing a black shirt with a black backpack running away from the scene. He reportedly scaled a brick wall into the nearby Sydney Harbour subdivision. Surveillance video nearby showed the suspect running down the sidewalk with a backpack on, Pct. 4 said.
On Nov. 22, deputies were called to a street within the Sydney Harbour subdivision after a resident found a black backpack floating in the water on a canal, according to court documents. Inside the backpack, investigators found a Chrysler/Jeep key fob, binoculars, small hammer, black flashlight, black face mask, gloves and other burglary tools. Deputies also reportedly found a handgun that matched the description of the one stolen from the Jeep.
Herman said investigators collected a DNA sample while Quintero was in custody and would use it to push for full accountability.
"Once we get our DNA and we project it to come back to him, we'll be filing murder charges," Herman said, flanked by Rickenbach's parents.
Through tears, Diaz said she hoped that will be enough to hold him.
"I don't understand why they would let someone out like that. He was already on the run for almost two months," she said. "For them to let him be able to walk out and potentially do the same thing to somebody else, another family, it doesn't make sense."
She questioned how someone so young could be responsible for so much pain and promised to show up as the case plays out for Caleb.
"He risked his life so I could have mine, so it's the least I can do," Diaz said.