WEST VALLEY CITY -- West Valley City Police thought the case had run cold, but Sunday night they caught a break in an unsolved hit and run accident, which claimed life of a 2-year-old boy.
“I’ve still got that heartache that never goes away. My son is still gone. It was the best two years of my life,” said Angela Barnett, the mother of the victim.
On June 10, Barnett was crossing the street near 5600 West and 4005 South when a car plowed into her and her two children. Barnett’s 2-year-old son, Gavyn, was tossed from his stroller onto the pavement. He died the next day.
“Why would you leave the scene? I mean, for the 6 months that it’s been,” said Barnett. “Why wouldn’t you come forward? Wouldn’t that conscience eat you?”
The driver had reportedly stopped down the road and looked back before driving away. The case remained unsolved until police received a tip from someone claiming their brother knew what happened.
“When our officers spoke to him he was a little emotional about it, and maybe that got to him,” said Sgt. Jason Hauer of West Valley City Police.
The brother turned out to be the ex-boyfriend of Kimberly Munoz, 21, who police said later confessed to the crime.
“We had exhausted all of our investigative leads,” Hauer said, “Without this boyfriend having come forward, then potentially it could have gone unsolved.”
Munoz is facing a third-degree felony hit-and-run charge, as well as a charge for improper Lookout, a misdemeanor.
“She realized that she had hit something,” Hauer said. “She said that she did look back and see a stroller, but that she was scared and fled."
While her arrest has helped police potentially close their case, it has not helped Barnett move forward.
“I want my little boy back,” she said. “I mean, that’s what I want, and I can’t have that.”
