60-year-old man arrested in Miami teen jogger’s hit-and-run death, police say
Three days after police interviewed a suspect and found the car they believe was involved in the hit-and-run death of a teenage jogger in Miami, an arrest has been made.
On Friday night, Miami police announced the arrest of Jose Fimia, 60, for his alleged involvement in the fatal hit-and-run crash that killed 16-year-old Dayana “Diani” Gomez.
Fimia was charged with one count of vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of a crash/death, driving with a suspended license and tampering with physical evidence.
This comes after a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation told the Miami Herald that it could be days, even weeks, before police would have enough evidence to make an arrest.
Dayana, dressed in jogging clothes, left the family’s Upper East Side Miami home early Saturday morning, as she did most weekends, for a run. When she didn’t return by early evening, worried family members called police. The next morning, police received a call from someone saying someone might have been hit by a gray car on the 79th Street Causeway.
Family members desperate to find her went on Facebook Live begging the public for help. They set up a GoFundMe page that as of Friday had collected more than $10,000.
Police didn’t find the missing girl’s body. But late Sunday afternoon one of Dayana’s uncles did, her possessions and some clothing scattered around her lifeless body on the north side of the causeway near some shrubbery not far from Pelican Harbor Marina.
From there, the search was on for clues to the young girl’s death. At first, Miami police insinuated her death involved some type of “foul play.” But police later cleared that up and said Dayana appeared to be the victim of a traffic homicide.
On Tuesday, helicopters hovered overhead Little Belle Meade Island as police surrounded a gray Toyota Corolla with what they said was damage in line with what could be expected from hitting Dayana. Police also detained and interviewed Fimia, who owned the car, for several hours.
But without conclusive video linking him to the time of the incident and still awaiting DNA results from the vehicle’s exterior that could tie the car to Dayana, police had no choice but to let the man go.
The next day, detectives interviewed an unidentified person who told them they saw Fimia’s car on May 14 and it had no damage. But when they saw it again on Sunday, May 16, it was parked near a dumpster with what appeared to be blood and hair on its broken windshield, an arrest report read. The unidentified witness also later saw Fimia pacing around the car.
The witness asked him if he needed help to fix the car. Fimia said they had hit something, but didn’t need help. Before police would find his car on Tuesday, the unidentified person said they also saw a man, who arrived with Fimia’s sister, help Fimia change his damaged front tire.
With a witness interviewed and the damaged car found, detectives were still searching for definitive video.
On Thursday, detectives obtained surveillance video that clearly showed Fimia driving the Corolla in the area of the crash.
Dayana’s death was yet another blow to a family who fairly recently had been separated from another loved one. The teen’s father was detained in 2017 and deported to his native Honduras. The family is hoping to secure a humanitarian visa for him to return to Miami to mourn his daughter’s death.
“He’s very distressed knowing he can’t come,” said Dayana’s aunt, Concepcion Alvarado.
Dayana was born and raised in Miami, one of three siblings. She hoped to be a banker or work in real estate, Alvarado said.
Family members set up a viewing for Dayana on Friday night. She will be buried Saturday.
Relatives say they are waiting for the results of the police investigation. Alvarado, who was on hand when relatives found the body, said the driver should have stopped to help.
“Maybe she could have been saved,” she said.
This story was originally published May 21, 2021 at 1:06 PM.
