Suspect in fatal hit-and-run crash admitted drinking canned margarita: docs

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) -- She slurred her words and changed her story, but by the time Gabriela Aracely Garza finished speaking, deputies had enough evidence to arrest her as the driver who left a bicyclist dead in a hit-and-run crash in Wasco. Garza near the end of the interview nodded when a deputy again asked if she'd been driving and hit someone, according to court documents. Garza was 21 at the time of the Nov. 12, 2023, crash. She was arrested early the next day after surveillance video and witness statements led deputies to her, documents said. Her blood-alcohol content was measured at 0.10%, according to court documents, above the legal limit. She's due in court next month for a preliminary hearing on charges of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, hit and run causing death and destroying or concealing evidence. It's alleged she was involved in two crashes on Nov. 12: one that occurred at about 6:18 p.m. near the intersection of Sequoia Drive and Palm Avenue and killed bicyclist Gloria Soto, 41; and another about a half-mile away that damaged a parked car. A gray Dodge Ram identified as the suspect vehicle was found in Garza's backyard. Vehicle parts found at the crime scene matched damage observed on the truck, according to the documents. Garza initially told a deputy she drank a canned margarita then took a nap. The deputy smelled alcohol on her breath, documents said. Confronted with other evidence, she admitted driving to a sibling's home after consuming the alcoholic beverage, but insisted she went home afterward and slept. She eventually acknowledged she may have hit the bicyclist. "It could have been me," she told the deputy. "But I don't remember." The deputy noted in the documents that Garza knew the location of the crash despite him not telling her. After nodding her head to indicate she was the driver, Garza said she'd had one drink, according to the documents. There was a receipt in the house for a 24-ounce Cayman Jack margarita and a Smirnoff Ice drink. They were purchased the morning of the crash.