A 23-year-old Robstown woman who was about a month pregnant died early Saturday after a driver struck her and her 18-year-old brother while they walked along a rural county road and then fled without stopping. Kimberly Varela later died at the hospital from injuries sustained in the hit-and-run crash, and investigators are now asking the public for help tracking down the vehicle involved.
According to the Texas Department of Public Safety - South Texas Region, the collision happened just after 3:20 a.m. on County Road 44 west of FM 1694 near Robstown. Varela was taken to Christus Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi - Shoreline, where she later died of her injuries, while her brother was treated at the scene for a foot injury. As reported by KRIS 6 News, the 18-year-old declined further medical attention from first responders.
The siblings were walking home after dropping off a vehicle in the area when they were hit, the station's report notes. Varela was a mother of two young children, according to a GoFundMe cited in the same account, with a third child on the way at the time of her death.
The Search for a Damaged White Silverado
Troopers with the Texas Department of Public Safety are investigating the crash and believe the vehicle involved is a white Chevrolet Silverado, model year 2007 to 2013, that should now be carrying front-end and headlight damage. Anyone who spots a matching truck or has information about the driver is asked to call DPS at (361) 698-5600.
Investigators still have to determine who was behind the wheel at the time of the crash. Under Texas law, any driver involved in a collision is required to immediately stop, remain at the scene, and render aid regardless of fault, according to Saputo Toufexis. Failing to do so in a crash that results in a death is a second-degree felony under Texas Transportation Code § 550.021, carrying a potential sentence of 2 to 20 years in state prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
How Texas Law Treats the Loss of an Unborn Child
Texas Penal Code Chapter 19 defines an individual to include an unborn child at any stage of gestation, which can allow prosecutors to pursue criminal homicide charges when a fetus is killed through a driver's negligent or reckless conduct, per the Law Firm of Aaron A. Herbert, P.C. Varela was roughly a month pregnant at the time of the crash, but the available sources do not state that the provision was being considered in this case.
The severity of the failure-to-stop penalty traces back to a 2013 change addressed by both House Bill 72 and Senate Bill 275, with the legislative explanation specifically identifying Senate Bill 275 as increasing the penalty, according to Goldstein & Orr. That change elevated leaving the scene of a fatal crash from a third-degree to a second-degree felony, specifically to stop drivers from fleeing crashes to dodge intoxication charges.
A Dangerous Stretch for Nueces County Roads
The Robstown crash adds to a string of fatal wrecks DPS troopers have investigated on rural roads in the county. KRIS 6 News notes that troopers recently worked another fatal Robstown crash in which a pickup driver ran a stop sign and killed a 35-year-old father and two children, a case that led to three counts of manslaughter.
A 2026 Reyes Law article analyzing 2025 TxDOT data reported that Nueces County was above the average traffic-fatality rate for Texas counties with populations of more than 250,000, according to Angel Reyes & Associates. The article does not compare Nueces County with similar urban-adjacent Texas counties.
Pedestrians at Greater Risk After Dark
Statewide, pedestrians accounted for 768 deaths in Texas in 2024, nearly 19 percent of all roadway fatalities despite pedestrian collisions making up just 1 percent of total crashes, per the Texas Department of Transportation. TxDOT recorded 6,095 pedestrian-involved crashes across the state that year. The Robstown crash occurred at 3:20 a.m., but the available sources, including Angel Reyes & Associates, do not establish a statewide comparison between that timing and pedestrian risk.
Rural crashes accounted for just over half of all Texas traffic fatalities in 2024, totaling 2,080 deaths, TxDOT figures show, even though rural roads carry far less traffic than city streets. County Road 44 was the rural county road where the Robstown crash occurred.
For now, the driver who struck Kimberly Varela and her brother remains unidentified, and DPS troopers continue to ask anyone with information about the white Silverado or the crash to come forward at (361) 698-5600.
