Heartbroken family of woman killed by hit-and-run driver demands answers
CAMDEN COUNTY, N.J. - Police in Camden County are searching for the driver who hit and killed a mother of three. Her heartbroken family is searching for answers.
"When three detectives came, I couldn’t move. I knew something was wrong," Carlos Mahan said.
What they learned is what they all feared when 41-year-old Carla Mahan, a single, hard-working mother of three, didn’t make it home from her daily commute and didn’t answer her phone.
"Was hit by a speeding car and killed. We didn’t find out about it until later in the afternoon when detectives came here, to her mother’s house," Mike Shepherd said.
Killed in an area many of her family had to come out and see for themselves, still in disbelief, still infuriated.
Her sister, Roseanna Mahan, stated, "My sister did not deserve to be left out there like an animal or a piece of crap."
The tattered crime scene tape left by Camden police at 7th and Morgan streets, where just past 3 p.m. Wednesday, moments after Carla got off a New Jersey Transit bus, close to the end of her daily commute from where she worked in Swedesboro, she was walking to her car when another vehicle hit her at 7th and Tulip and took off, leaving her in the street.
Police say she was pronounced dead just 45 minutes later at the hospital.
Her retired father always wanted to be at the bus stop to pick her up, but she wanted her dad to relax and enjoy his retirement rather than be her driver.
"She likes to do things on her own," her dad, Carlos Mahan said. "That’s the daughter we all love. Not only did she have pretty eyes, but she had a pretty heart."
"She was a loving mother, sister, daughter, cousin, friend, coworker. Everything. She didn’t deserve this at all. If you didn’t keep going you could be made the difference between her breathing right now. This is too much, I still can’t believe it," Roseanna cried.
Her uncle, Mike Shepherd, described Carla, "Hardworking mother, working in the type of business she’s in. She’s in six to seven years. The mother of three kids. 13, 15 and one that just graduated back in June."
"Her kids mean the world to her. She did everything for them," Roseanna commented.
Wednesday night, a broken family with broken hearts hope their hurt will reach the conscious of the driver.
"If you hear out there just confess, turn yourself in and do it for these kids. That’s all I ask as a dad and a grandparent," Carlos said.
"All these unanswered questions. Somebody has the answers to everything. We’re not gonna just accept it. We’re not gonna let her name go in vain. We deserve it. Her kids deserve it. She deserves it," Roseanna said.