A 22-year-old man from Huntington Station, New York had just left the St. Johns County jail in St. Augustine after being picked up for a stolen moped. He was walking along U.S. Highway 1 when he was struck and killed by a southbound vehicle.
Now there are questions as to what really happened. The Florida Highway Patrol believes that Dominic Amodeo was hit Tuesday night, September 7, just south of Lewis Speedway about 9:15 p.m.
The driver, Nicole Jonas, 21, of Palm Coast told police she thought she struck a deer. There was extensive front-end damage to her vehicle, but Florida Highway Patrol deputies didn’t find any wildlife in the area she described. Five hours later, deputies responded to an anonymous call of a dead man alongside the road. Amodeo was pronounced dead about 100 yards from the county jail.
The anonymous caller may be the key to solving the mystery, reports News4Jax. According to FHP he said, “In case you have not found the body, I have killed a homeless person. This is not the first time and it won’t be the last time.”
The call was traced to a pay phone and Jonas’ boyfriend was discovered to be the caller.
What is unclear is when police first heard Jonas’ account of when she allegedly hit a deer. Jonas said she hit a deer about four miles from that site.
Did she call it in after she had left the scene?
If so, she could be charged with a felony and face up to 30 years in prison. St. Augustine pedestrian accident lawyers know that a hit-and–run, or leaving the scene of a fatality, changes an accident, with perhaps civil penalties, to a crime – a first-degree felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison. It is also a felony to leave the scene of an accident when someone is injured. It is a misdemeanor when there are no injuries.
Blood alcohol test results are pending on both Jonas and Amodeo.
