15-year-old’s brother finds him dead from hit-and-run, FL cops say. Man sentenced

A driver was on his way back from trying to see his kids when he killed a 15-year-old bicyclist and fled, leaving him to be found by his brother, according to investigators in Florida.

Hector Santiago Jr. has now been sentenced to 30 years in prison after a jury convicted him of vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of a crash involving a death and operating a motor vehicle causing a death without a driver’s license, the State Attorney’s Office for the 20th Judicial Circuit announced Sept. 15.

Santiago’s attorney, Richard Sullivan, told McClatchy News that his client maintained his innocence throughout the trial, saying he wasn’t the culprit. Sullivan said his client plans to appeal.

In court, Santiago said he didn’t feel that he got a fair trial, WBBH reported.

“I know that 30 years is 30 years, and he may see it as a max, but I believe the sentence that we’re facing is, is for life,” the teen’s aunt, Selena Barron, told WBBH. “It’s something that will never be reversible.”

The mother of 15-year-old Eduardo Dayan Lopez Escobedo told Santiago in court that he ruined her life.

Santiago is accused of causing the teen’s death in a hit-and-run in LaBelle on Sept. 14, 2023, according to an arrest affidavit filed by Florida Highway Patrol in Hendry County.

Escobedo’s brother told investigators they left home at about 7 p.m., with him on a side-by-side UTV and his 15-year-old brother on a bike, troopers said.

The brother went ahead of Escobedo to a Circle K and was pumping gas when he heard a “loud noise,” then he started getting worried that his brother hadn’t caught up to him at the gas station yet, according to highway patrol.

He got back on his side-by-side, and while looking for his brother, saw a white SUV with a broken fender and shattered headlight coming toward him, state troopers wrote in their report.

He noticed Escobedo’s bike, then he found his brother’s body, and witnesses said they heard him crying out that his brother was dead, investigators said.

Escobedo died at the scene.

Witnesses told highway patrol they saw a white SUV speeding and driving erratically earlier, passing traffic by veering onto the wrong side of the road, but the driver never stopped after the crash, according to troopers.

The next day, one of Santiago’s neighbors called in a tip that his neighbor’s car matched the description of the vehicle involved in a hit-and-run he’d heard about on the news, and it looked like it had recently been involved in a crash, authorities said.

Troopers said they visited the home, where they spoke to Santiago’s mother, who told them her son had borrowed her car the night of the crash.

The woman told investigators that her son asked her to drive him to see his children, but he wasn’t allowed to drive himself because his license was suspended, according to the affidavit.

She wasn’t feeling well and asked him to wait, but he took her car anyway and drove to his ex’s home, where his kids were being watched by their grandparents, troopers said.

The grandparents told investigators Santiago showed up despite the fact that it wasn’t his day to visit, and he began knocking on the sliding door urgently until he eventually went away when he wasn’t let in, according to the report.

Santiago’s mom said her son got home later and apologized for damaging her car, only saying he “hit something” without specifying what, troopers said.

When investigators spoke with Santiago, he denied using his mom’s car that day and said he had heard about the crash but had nothing to do with it, according to FHP. 7

He wasn’t arrested at the time, but highway patrol seized the vehicle the next day, according to the report.

Investigators said they used data from the vehicle, forensics and witnesses to piece together that after Santiago went to see his kids, he was driving home at nearly 70 mph in a 35 mph zone when he fatally hit Escobedo, who landed on the windshield and cracked it.

Santiago didn’t brake during the crash and continued on without stopping, FHP said.

He was eventually taken into custody in LaBelle, which is about a 30-mile drive northeast from Fort Myers.

This story was originally published September 16, 2025 at 11:51 AM with the headline "15-year-old’s brother finds him dead from hit-and-run, FL cops say. Man sentenced."