Hit-and-run kills Milwaukee girl; search warrants reveal new details
MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee girl was killed, and her mother was seriously injured, in a hit-and-run on April 30.
Court filings provide additional details as to what happened before, during and after 4-year-old Zekani Hymes-Wilson's death.
"Her face should be the face that everyone should see to want to stop reckless driving," Kijuana Jackson, a family friend, told FOX6.
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Family mourned Zekani's death and prayed for a quick recovery for her mother, 27-year-old Gloria Hymes, on Saturday. The two were hit while crossing Teutonia Avenue near Vera Avenue.
The driver and a passenger got out of their car and ran to check on the mother and daughter; the driver then left the scene, while the passenger remained. The driver has since been identified as 30-year-old Donald Crayton, who prosecutors said was Hymes' live-in boyfriend. The passenger was Crayton's sister.
Gloria Hymes and Zekani Hymes-Wilson
Hours later, Crayton was arrested in Wauwatosa after a car and foot chase. Adriana Merkel, 21, was also arrested and has since been charged. Court records show Crayton was previously convicted of hitting and killing a person in 2018, and he has never had a driver's license.
Separately, police arrested Crayton's 26-year-old sister, Destiny Crayton, who was the passenger at the time of the hit-and-run. She has not been charged in connection with the investigation.
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The day after the arrests, investigators filed a series of search warrants for vehicles, cellphones and hospital surveillance video. Warrant affidavits and charging documents detail that Destiny Crayton moved in with her brother and Hymes one to two months ago. She admitted she was a passenger in the car when Hymes was hit – and that she initially said she was Hymes' sister and rode to the hospital with her.
Court documents also said Destiny Crayton never said she was in the car and fled the hospital when police learned she was in the car. She was released from the jail.
Donald Crayton and Merkel both made their first court appearances over the weekend and remain in custody.