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Teen's tragic Halloween night leads to a driver's 10-year sentence
Two 17-year-old best friends were walking home from a Halloween party, but one of them, Ziyanna Jones, tragically didn't make it. Following the sentencing of the man responsible for Ziyanna's death to 10 years in prison, a surprising and shocking event unfolded in court, which left her grieving mother astonished.
DICKINSON, Texas - A mother was caught off guard in court by the man who killed her daughter. Zanetta Wyatt says she was stunned at what Daniel Rodriguez said shortly after he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the hit-and-run death of her daughter 17-year-old Dickinson High School student Ziyanna Jones.
The tragic accident happened on October 31, 2021. Two 17-year-old best friends had been walking home from a Halloween party along Dickinson Avenue near 30th Street. Ziyanna Jones never made it.
"I'm so sorry Ziyanna. I'm just sorry," cries Ziyanna's best friend, Alexandria Rodriguez, and Ziyanna's mom hugs her and comforts her. "It's ok. It wasn't your fault baby," Wyatt says and Alex adds, "I would do anything to go back to that night and save her."
A memorial marks where 17-year-old Ziyanna Jones spent her last moments alive as she and her best friend Alexandria Rodriguez walked from the Halloween party in 2021.
SUGGESTED: Teen who witnessed best friend killed in hit-and-run delivers emotional victim impact statement
The Dickinson High School Senior was run over and killed by a stranger, Daniel Rodriguez, in a hit-and-run.
"He was just a few inches away. I felt the gush of wind, everything," says Alexandria.
Daniel Rodriguez was arrested a month later. After pleading guilty earlier this month, he's now being sentenced.
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Hit-and-run victim's best friend reads letter
Alexandria Rodriguez was walking with 17-year-old Ziyanna Jones when Jones was killed in a hit-and-run on Halloween. Rodriguez reads her victim impact letter surrounded by Jones' mother and father.
"I sentence you to 10 years in the Texas Department of Corrections. You are not a U.S. citizen, and you understand that you will likely be deported," Judge Jeth Jones says to Rodriguez.
"She just was an amazing person and everything about her life was spiritual.
During Zaneta Wyatt's victim impact statement, she told Rodriguez how her beautiful daughter was well-loved, was in the band, often fed the homeless, had great compassion, received her high school diploma posthumously, and she told him she forgives him.
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Ziyanna's dad also spoke and her best friend Alex who was there that night, read a three-page letter to Rodriguez, "Ever since then my life has fallen apart. I carry so much guilt and regret from that night. I've gone through a deep depression."
Then Daniel Rodriguez did something Ziyanna's mom wasn't expecting. He asked if he could apologize and standing there in court, he did several times.
"I'm very sorry to everybody, and thank you for forgiving me. I do believe in Christ," Rodriguez told Wyatt in response to her telling him she hopes he knows Jesus Christ. She cried in court as he spoke, and she said "Amen" several times.
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"When Mr. Rodriguez spoke it touched my heart," Wyatt says.
Alexandria Rodriguez shared a video with us that was taken an hour before Ziyanna was killed.
"She was so pretty. She had a glow to her," says Ziyanna's best friend. Even in death, Ziyanna's beauty is still shining. Two non-profits have been started in her honor, Dickinson Mayor Sean Skipworth is working on a $50 million project to install sidewalks and lights along Dickinson Avenue and trying to name the stretch of road where Ziyanna died after her.
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"Somebody passed away there, and it was a tragedy. I think it's a way for us all to go by there and remember what happened there and keep her alive," says Dickinson Mayor Sean Skipworth.
"I just miss my baby but through her legacy, she will live on. I know she's in Heaven. She loved and lived for Jesus Christ. She was a special person," says Wyatt.
In fact, the man now charged with killing her says he agrees. He says before seeing Ziyanna's picture in news reports a girl with the same face visited him in a dream. "And I woke up crying, and she just looked at me, like smiled at me and that's something I've got here in my heart," Daniel Rodriguez told Ziyanna's family as he spoke in court after his sentencing.
Alex ended her letter with, "I love you, and I'll miss you forever Ziyanna. Until we meet again keep my seat warm for me like you always did on the bus. I'll see you soon. Get some rest".
Ziyanna was walking home from that Halloween party because her ride was late, and she didn't want to miss curfew.