FAYETTEVILLE --Tristen Eric Fernandez of West Fork pleaded guilty Wednesday to negligent homicide and leaving the scene of a fatal or personal injury accident. He was sentenced to eight years in prison, with two years suspended.
Fernandez, 27, will serve six of the eight years in prison on the two felony charges, according to information from Washington County Circuit Court.
Fernandez pleaded guilty in connection with a June 7, 2017, incident in which Yessi Beatriz Rauda Paredes, 24, of Fayetteville was killed. Paredes was walking along the sidewalk near the intersection of West Wedington Drive and North Gold Club Drive when a Chevrolet Equinox traveling west on Wedington jumped the curb and hit her, according to police reports. She was declared dead at the scene.
Police found the SUV in the parking lot of a shopping area at 3980 W. Wedington Drive with the passenger's side tires flat, bent rims, damage to the front passenger side and hood and with blood and makeup on the hood.
Fernandez was arrested later that day. According to police, he said when he was arrested he believed he had hit a deer.
NW News on 11/15/2018