Authorities have arrested a suspect in a hit-and-run wreck that killed a 43-year-old woman walking to the store in Leon Valley last month.
Matthew Valerio, 27, was arrested Tuesday by Bexar County sheriff's deputies. He is charged with collision involving death, a second-degree felony, in the March 7 crash that killed Rose Marie Jones, 43.
He faces additional charges of driving with an invalid license in La Salle County and possession of marijuana in San Patricio County, jail records show.
Just before 8:30 a.m. the day of the crash, Jones was walking in the 5600 block of Grissom Road when a driver jumped up on the sidewalk and hit her, the Leon Valley Police Department said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Before the driver sped away, a witness took a photo of the car, a silver 2018 Audi, according to an arrest affidavit. The license plate led police to Valerio, to whom the car was registered.
Officers later found the car abandoned at a nearby apartment complex, rendered inoperable because of the crash. Surveillance footage from the apartment complex showed a man matching Valerio's description running from the area.
Additional video footage captured the man believed to be Valerio continuing down Grissom Road while using his phone. He turned onto Poss Road and was picked up by someone driving a white SUV.
Valerio is "known to have called family members advising them that he had been involved in an accident," the affidavit reads.
One of Valerio's relatives identified him as the suspect in the surveillance footage, according to the document.
He was in custody Wednesday at the Bexar County jail with bail set at $250,000. If convicted, Valerio faces a maximum punishment of 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Jones, a San Antonio native, is remembered as a generous and loving older sister. She graduated from John Jay High School and was working in advertising for McHugh's Tree Service, a family member's business, at the time of her death.
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