MIAMI – Detectives arrested a 60-year-old man on Friday in Miami accusing him of fatally striking a cherished 16-year-old girl who went out for an early morning run and never came back.
Elvin Gomez was in tears when he learned of Jose Fimia’s arrest on the same day of Dayana “Diani” Gomez’s funeral in Miami-Dade County. Diani’s cousin Christine Gomez said the tragedy was just too painful to bear.
“She just started high school,” Christine Gomez said. “She was just starting life.”
Detectives accused Fimia of driving a gray Toyota Corolla when he struck Diani. Elvis Gomez said he doesn’t understand why Jose Fimia didn’t stop to help her or call Fire Rescue personnel to try to save her life. Instead, officers found his car nearby with stands of Diani’s blue hair.
Detectives said that while Diani’s family was desperately searching for her, Fimia attempted to clean her blood off his car and removed the hubcaps in an attempt to cover up the fatal hit-and-run crash on May 15.
Dennis Gomez found his niece dead on May 16, more than a day after she left her home to jog alone. He had been searching for her up and down Northeast 79th Street when he found her body hidden within bushes near the Pelican Harbour boat ramp.
Officers seized Fimia’s car. It had a shattered windshield, a broken headlight, and dents on the passenger’s side. He is facing felony charges of vehicular homicide/failure to stop, leaving the scene of a crash causing death, and tampering with physical evidence.
Fimia was at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on Friday night in Miami-Dade County.
“Keep him in jail for the rest of his life because my family is not going to be the same anymore,” Elvin Gomez said.
Fimia is set to face a Miami-Dade Circuit Judge on Saturday.