SAN ANTONIO — Bexar County officials said debris from a deadly Von Ormy hit-and-run helped lead investigators to a man now charged in connection with the Sept. 27 incident.
An off-duty police officer found the body of the victim lying on the side of the I-35 access road early that morning. Sheriff Javier Salazar says he was later identified as 43-year-old Casey Musser, a man believed to have been homeless at the time he was hit.
According to Salazar, Von Ormy authorities had recovered a damaged Jeep SUV near where the body was found the night before. Upon searching the area where Musser was found, deputies found parts of a car antenna and headlight that Salazar said "proved to be crucial" in their investigation.
"They were able to backtrack, they found where that Jeep had just been not too long ago. (It was) passed on from a car dealer to a car mechanic that was supposed to have done some work to a relative of that mechanic, who then we found to be Mr. Vela, our suspect," the sheriff said.
Dimas Damian Vela, 24, was taken into custody and charged with collision involving death on Wednesday. According to Salazar, he somehow left the roadway on Sept. 27 and hit Musser before driving away. Not long after, he allegedly wrecked at a guardrail and called someone to pick him up, leaving the car behind.
When they tried recovering the Jeep the next day, Salazar said, police had already impounded it. The sheriff added Vela admitted to being behind the wheel when he crashed into the guardrail, but it remains unclear why he veered off the roadway before hitting Musser earlier.
"At this point, we don't have any indication he struck him on purpose," Salazar said. "I think he was just recklessly driving. Possibly, intoxication was a factor. In the second collision, he was very much at fault."
Vela could be imprisoned for up to five years and/or have to pay a $5,000 fine if convicted.
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