Two 19-year-olds charged in a fatal Thanksgiving hit-and-run confessed after they surrendered to Pharr police, according to probable cause affidavits filed against them.
The holiday crash, which happened near the 1000 block of S. Cage Boulevard at about 10:14 p.m., killed 54-year-old Gilberto Delgado.
Two days after the hit-and-run, San Juan residents Manuel Ramirez Canchola and Natalie Monique Carreon surrendered to Pharr police.
Canchola was charged with accident involving death, while Carreon was charged with failure to report a felony involving death.
The affidavits for their arrests said that a woman who was involved in the crash stayed at the scene. She told police she hit Delgado, but not before another vehicle hit him and left the location.
She said she was traveling north on Cage from Ridge Road when she noticed a dark colored truck in the center lane and a small SUV on the right shoulder. She told investigators she switched lanes, felt a bump and then stopped and spoke with responding police.
Another witness told police that while he was traveling north on Cage from Ridge Road, he noticed a 2000 model, black passenger vehicle passing on the right shoulder lane, and that he saw the vehicle hit Delgado before it immediately left the location, according to the affidavit.
During the investigation, police recovered surveillance video that showed a dark colored vehicle, possibly a Nissan, with extensive damage to its front end. That video shows a man get out of the driver seat and try to fix the vehicle’s hood before taking off eastbound on Sam Houston, according to the affidavit.
Investigators later recovered the vehicle, a blue 2015 Nissan Altima, at a residence in San Juan.
Carreon received a $20,000 bond on her charge and bailed out of the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on Saturday.
Canchola received a $100,000 bond and remained jailed Tuesday.
He also is being held without bond on three counts of aggravated robbery stemming from two robberies on Christmas Eve in 2020 and another on Dec. 10, 2020.
Canchola previously pleaded guilty to using a pellet gun during the course of the three robberies.
He received five years of deferred adjudication with community supervision.
However, he failed to abide by the terms after police arrested him on May 3 for possession of marijuana, less than two ounces, and falsifying a drug testing device.
A judge issued warrants for his arrest May 9.
He will face a new sentencing for violating the terms of his deferred adjudication.
