A Houston family is grieving after 73-year-old Otilia Corona, a mother of seven and grandmother to more than 13, was fatally struck by a driver just yards from her home during a morning walk last Friday. The driver fled the scene without stopping, according to police, leaving Corona's relatives to plead with the public for any information that could lead to an arrest.
Corona was out walking near her Houston home on August 7 when she was hit, according to KHOU, which reported that her family reached out to local media in hopes that witnesses would step forward. The station identified her as a mother of seven and grandmother to more than 13 grandchildren, describing a family now left to mourn a woman who was killed steps from where she lived.
A Second Fatal Hit-and-Run the Same Day
Corona's death was not an isolated tragedy that Friday. The Houston Police Department also investigated another fatal hit-and-run that same day when a driver struck 71-year-old David Storm, who used a wheelchair, on Telephone Road and fled, according to a City of Houston press report. Both cases were handled by HPD's Vehicular Crimes Division, underscoring how two vulnerable pedestrians were killed and abandoned within hours of each other on Houston streets. Hoodline previously reported on the wheelchair user's death in a crosswalk on Telephone Road.
If identified and charged, the driver who struck Corona could face severe consequences. Under Texas Transportation Code § 550.021, failing to stop and render aid at the scene of a collision resulting in death is a second-degree felony, punishable by two to 20 years in state prison and fines of up to $10,000, according to FindLaw. Texas has updated its transportation code in recent years to replace the term “accident” with “collision” across statutory provisions.
How to Submit Tips
Investigators are asking anyone with information or surveillance footage of the crash to come forward. Crime Stoppers of Houston is offering a cash reward of up to $5,000 for tips submitted anonymously through 713-222-TIPS (8477) or its mobile app that lead to an arrest or felony charge, per Crime Stoppers of Houston. Tipsters receive anonymous code numbers so they can claim the reward without revealing their identity.
Houston police also want witnesses to contact HPD's Hit-and-Run Unit directly at 713-247-4065, according to the same City of Houston release. The unit, which operates within HPD's Vehicular Crimes Division, has handled a string of unresolved fatal hit-and-run cases across the city in recent weeks, including a driver who struck and killed a woman on Collingsworth Street, a case Hoodline covered under the headline same block as March death.
A City With a Pedestrian Safety Crisis
Corona's death adds to a grim statewide pattern. Preliminary 2024 Texas Department of Transportation data shows 772 pedestrians were killed and 1,455 seriously injured in 6,095 pedestrian crashes statewide, with pedestrians accounting for nearly 19% of all Texas traffic deaths despite representing only 1% of total collisions, Hoodline has reported. Federal Highway Administration and NHTSA data released in late 2025 ranked Houston as the third-deadliest U.S. city for pedestrians, behind Los Angeles and Phoenix, after the city recorded 98 pedestrian fatalities in 2023.
City crash analyses cited in Houston's municipal safety reports found that 20 out of 21 fatal pedestrian collisions in the city occurred outside marked crosswalks, a factor tied to arterial streets that often lack frequent crosswalks or mid-block pedestrian signals. Vision Zero planning data from the City of Houston shows that roughly 6% of city streets, designated the High Injury Network, account for nearly 60% of all traffic deaths and severe injuries. Harris County, meanwhile, recorded 517 traffic fatalities and 2,758 serious injuries in preliminary 2025 data, consistently leading all Texas counties in overall roadway deaths.
For now, the driver who killed Otilia Corona remains unidentified, and her family is left waiting for answers about how a routine morning walk near her own home ended in her death. Anyone with information is urged to contact HPD's Hit-and-Run Unit or Crime Stoppers of Houston.
