A rear-end collision at the intersection of East Riverside Drive and Royal Crest Drive last December left two people with non-life-threatening injuries after the driver responsible sped off without stopping. Now, more than seven months later, Austin police say forensic testing on DNA recovered from the fleeing vehicle's driver-side airbag has led them to a suspect they can't yet find: 20-year-old Kevin Eduardo Aguilar Yac.
According to the Austin Police Department, the crash happened at 6:28 p.m. on December 28, 2025, and involved a vehicle occupied by two people. Aguilar Yac fled the scene immediately afterward, police say, and detectives with APD's Highway Enforcement Investigations Unit later matched DNA pulled from the airbag to him through a CODIS database hit. Police have since obtained an arrest warrant, but they say he has no known address in Austin and was last located in Tucson, Arizona, per the release.
APD Detectives Request the Public’s Help in Locating a Suspect Involved in a Collision - https://t.co/yiAgjvACWx pic.twitter.com/h3vdGEGa2n
— Austin Police Department (@Austin_Police) August 10, 2026
Investigators describe Aguilar Yac as a 20-year-old Hispanic male. The department is asking anyone with information on his whereabouts to contact the Highway Enforcement Investigations Unit at (512) 974-4478 or by email at [email protected], and the case is being tracked under police case number 25-3621089.
How Airbag DNA Cracks a Hit-and-Run Case
The forensic method behind the identification hinges on basic physics: when an airbag deploys at roughly 200 mph, the force of the impact can transfer facial contact, saliva, or nasal discharge from a driver onto the fabric, according to forensic research on airbag DNA recovery. That biological material can then be processed and compared against the Combined DNA Index System, the national database that stores genetic profiles as numerical short tandem repeat sequences rather than names, as detailed in a Texas Department of Public Safety crime lab handbook. In Texas, that system is run through the DPS Crime Laboratory network, which interfaces with national CODIS records to generate automated matches once a profile from a crime scene lines up with one already on file.
Once detectives had a match, they were left facing the practical problem of a suspect with no fixed address in the city where the crash happened. It remains unclear whether extradition proceedings are underway with authorities in Tucson, where Aguilar Yac was last located, or whether additional charges beyond the original warrant could be filed once he is taken into custody.
A Known Trouble Spot on Austin's Roads
The crash site sits along a stretch of East Riverside Drive that city and safety officials have flagged for years. The corridor is classified as a High-Injury Roadway under Austin's Vision Zero initiative, the municipal program launched in 2015 aiming to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries on city streets by 2030, according to ProCare Injury Specialists. The City of Austin's own Corridor Construction Program has targeted East Riverside Drive for infrastructure updates, including restriping and signal improvements at the Royal Crest Drive intersection specifically meant to cut down on collision risk.
Despite those upgrades, Texas Department of Transportation crash data reviewed between 2022 and 2026 found the corridor among the city's highest-injury intersections, with driver inattention cited as the leading contributing factor in more than one-fifth of area crashes, per an analysis from The Carlson Law Firm. The road has also seen fatal incidents: in November 2025, a pedestrian was struck and killed in the 2200 block of East Riverside Drive by a driver who also fled without rendering aid, according to Vision Zero ATX.
What Aguilar Yac Could Face
Under Texas Transportation Code § 550.021, leaving the scene of a collision that causes injury without rendering aid can carry up to five years in state prison, or up to a year in county jail, along with a fine of as much as $5,000, according to the statute compiled by FindLaw. Drivers involved in a collision resulting in injury or property damage are separately required under § 550.023 to stop, exchange contact and insurance information, and provide reasonable assistance to anyone hurt — obligations Aguilar Yac is accused of failing to meet.
The case adds to a string of recent hit-and-run investigations Austin police have pursued in the last several months, including a fatal predawn crash that killed a cyclist on West 35th Street and a separate case in which APD sought a driver who struck a bicyclist on Congress Avenue. As in those earlier investigations, APD's Highway Enforcement Investigations Unit is working with Capital Area Crime Stoppers, which offers anonymous cash rewards of up to $1,000 for tips leading to an arrest in vehicular crash cases. Anyone with information on Aguilar Yac's location is asked to reach detectives directly rather than wait for a reward tip line, given the active warrant already in place.
