ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – An Orange County woman was arrested Monday, more than four years after her involvement in a fatal crash along the Florida Turnpike, according to court documents.
Yetzareny Rodriguez, 29, faces a charge of vehicular homicide.
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In April 2019, a FedEx semitrailer and Jeep SUV collided on the turnpike near the Orange-Osceola county line, killing Joseph Ledesma, 29, who was a passenger in the Jeep.
FHP said the driver of the Jeep, Rodriguez, had five passengers, including Ledesma, in the car at the time of the crash.
Investigators said Rodriguez had passed another tractor-trailer on the highway and was merging into the right lane without a turn signal. Meanwhile, the semitrailer turned on its signal to change into the right lane, investigators added.
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The semitrailer immediately moved back into the left lane after touching the painted lines in the roadway, though the Jeep began to swerve several times, eventually crashing into the semitrailer, an investigative report shows.
According to the report, the Jeep then went off the roadway, overturning into a nearby ditch. Several passengers in the Jeep were thrown from the SUV during the crash, causing Rodriguez and four others to be taken to the hospital, troopers said. Ledesma died at the scene.
Following a yearlong investigation, Rodriguez was issued a traffic citation for improper change of lane and hit with a $533 fine, the report states.
However, a detective was reassigned to the case in September 2020, and it was eventually discovered that Rodriguez had been intoxicated at the time of the crash, investigators explained.
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