Seven years after a Durham woman was killed when a car slammed into her disabled SUV on U.S. 15-501 North, police still have not found the man they charged in her death. Danielle Noel, 30, died at the scene on September 30, 2019, pinned between her own vehicle and the car that hit her, and the man wanted in connection with her killing, 38-year-old Martir Maldonado, remains unaccounted for.
According to ABC11, Noel was standing behind her 2000 Chevrolet Blazer, which had broken down in the right travel lane of U.S. 15-501 North near Cornwallis Road, with her hazard lights on, when a maroon 1998 Honda Accord crashed into her and the SUV. The impact pinned her between the two cars, and she died at the scene. The station reports the Honda's driver got out and fled on foot, leaving Noel behind. The stretch of highway where the crash happened is a major multi-lane corridor connecting Durham and Chapel Hill that sees heavy daily traffic, according to Hendren Redwine & Malone.
Durham police identified and charged Maldonado eight days later, on October 8, 2019, according to the City of Durham. He faces one count of felony hit-and-run involving serious injury or death, one count of felony hit-and-run causing death, one count of failure to reduce speed to avoid a collision, and misdemeanor death by motor vehicle, per the station's report. He has not been located since.
Why the Charges Are Split Between Felony and Misdemeanor
The two felony hit-and-run counts reflect North Carolina's treatment of fleeing a fatal crash scene as a serious crime in its own right. Under North Carolina General Statutes § 20-166, failing to remain at the scene of a crash involving serious injury or death is a Class F felony that can carry up to 41 months in prison for a first-time offender, according to the Vasquez Law Firm.
The misdemeanor death by motor vehicle charge is a separate legal track. As the Powers Law Firm explains, North Carolina General Statutes § 20-141.4(a2) applies that charge when a driver unintentionally causes a death while committing a non-impaired traffic violation, such as failing to reduce speed — distinct from felony death by vehicle, which requires proof the driver was chemically impaired.
A Pattern of Deadly Hit-and-Runs on Durham Roads
Noel's case is not an isolated one in Durham. Earlier this year, Hoodline reported that Durham police arrested a suspect on felony hit-and-run charges tied to a May 2024 Ellis Road crash that killed a bicyclist, showing investigators keep these case files open for years. Just days before that arrest, unsealed court documents described how bumper evidence and witness reports helped Durham investigators identify a suspect in a September 2025 fatal hit-and-run on Chalk Level Road.
The danger extends well beyond city limits. A study from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that roughly one in five pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities in North Carolina between 2017 and 2023 resulted from hit-and-run crashes, Hoodline previously reported. Statewide, the North Carolina Department of Transportation recorded 11,731 hit-and-run collisions in 2020 alone, resulting in 62 deaths and 5,607 injuries, according to the Law Offices of J.M. Kotzker. A separate NCDOT safety assessment found pedestrian and bicyclist crashes made up 17% of all traffic fatalities in the state between 2012 and 2021, despite accounting for just 1% of total collisions, per the agency's data compiled by VHB.
How To Report Information
Anyone with information on Maldonado's whereabouts is asked to call Investigator G. Munter at (919) 560-4935, extension 29448, the station reports. Tips can also be submitted anonymously through Durham CrimeStoppers online at durhamcrimestoppers.org or by phone at (919) 683-1200, and callers do not have to identify themselves. CrimeStoppers pays cash rewards of up to $2,000 for information that leads to an arrest in felony cases, a program the City of Durham says it regularly relies on to help close out unresolved warrants.
Seven years on, Noel's death remains an open case, and the question of where Maldonado has been since fleeing the scene on U.S. 15-501 remains unanswered.
