Passenger waiting in car in Walmart parking lot killed when suspect allegedly stole vehicle, crashed it
LAS VEGAS (KVVU/Gray News) — A mother is searching for answers after her adult son was killed in a car theft and crash Saturday morning.
Deborah Requena said her 37-year-old son, Benito Saragoza, was her whole world.
“He was my baby boy, my ride or die,” Requena said.
Requena said she left Saragoza inside her car while she shopped at a Walmart in Las Vegas.
“I went into the store because he can’t walk too much,” Requena said. “I said to him, ‘OK son, stay in the car. I’ll be right back.’ I’m in the store all that time not knowing that somebody hijacked my son in less than nine minutes after I parked.”
Police said the suspect, 55-year-old Harold Allen, got into the driver’s seat with Saragoza sleeping in the passenger seat. Police said Allen sped off and crashed into a large rock and a pole.
“I came out and I’m looking for my car and I’m like, ‘Where is my car?’ And I know my son don’t drive, so that’s when I came down, left the groceries. That’s when I tell the cops, ‘That’s my car. Where the hell is my son?’ And they told me they took my son to the hospital,” Requena said.
Saragoza died at the hospital.
“He must be crying for his mother. That’s the part that hurt my heart,” Requena said. “They seen him with his hands out, and I already know why he had his hands out because he was trying to get out.”
Allen had minor injuries. He is facing murder and kidnapping charges.
Court records show Allen had a hearing Sunday but did not appear because of medical reasons, and he is back in court Tuesday.
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