GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Police have made an arrest in a Gainesville December 2020 hit-and-run crash that killed a University of Florida student from Jacksonville.
Joshua Alexander Figueroa was arrested Thursday for failing to stop for a crash involving a death in the December 9, 2020 crash that killed Margaret “Maggie” Paxton, according to a news release from the Gainesville Police Department.
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Paxton was crossing West University Avenue near Gale Lemerand Drive when she was hit and killed by a car. Police said Figueroa left the scene of the crash without stopping to help Paxton or provide authorities with information.
Gainesville police were able to identify Figueroa as the driver that hit Paxton “through eyewitness interviews, information obtained from Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR’s) databases, a search warrant of the location of the vehicle that hit the victim, and a search warrant of Figueroa’s cell phone,” according to the release.
Figueroa is being held in the Alachua County Jail and is awaiting trial, according to online jail records.
This is the day Maggie’s family has been hoping for, praying for since December. Her aunt tells Action News Jax it’s a sigh of relief and a step closer towards justice.
Maggie’s aunt Ann von Thron says, “We are eight months into the rest of our lives without Maggie.”
Up until Thursday, it was eight months not knowing who took the life of Maggie Paxton, a tenacious, loving 18-year-old taken far too soon.
“We were bewildered. how could someone just do that and leave her to die on that road?” exclaims von Thron.
And now that the person who police say killed her is behind bars, Maggie’s family can start to heal and live like Maggie did –with love, encouragement and determination.
Von Thron explains, “Our faith tells us to give away love, that’s the only way we’ve found that we can feel one little ounce of healing, is trying to emulate what Maggie did every day.”
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