‘I’m in deep s—’: Woman sent texts, filed insurance claim after mowing down 85-year-old walking hand-in-hand with her husband

A Rhode Island woman has pleaded no contest in a hit-and-run case that claimed the life of an 85-year-old Providence resident.

Caitlin Kelly, 29, appeared in court Tuesday and entered a no-contest plea to a charge of failing to stop after an accident that resulted in death. The charge stems from an incident more than two years ago, when Kelly struck 85-year-old Vanda Makovetskiy as the woman walked with her husband, whom she had been married to for 53 years.

Vanda and her husband, Anisim, were well known in their Providence neighborhood for their daily early-morning walks, a tradition they kept since moving to the United States from Ukraine in 1995. According to prosecutors, surveillance footage showed Kelly stopping briefly at a red light at 6:14 a.m. on Oct. 4, 2023, before turning onto North Main Street, where the couple was walking hand-in-hand, as they had for nearly three decades.

Video also captured the moment Kelly’s vehicle struck Vanda—and her subsequent failure to stop or provide aid. Instead, prosecutors said, Kelly continued driving, pausing only at another red light before leaving the area entirely.

Roughly three minutes after the collision, Kelly texted a friend, writing, “I just hit someone head-on riding a scooter.” She later filed an insurance claim related to the crash. When investigators towed her car two days after the fatal incident, Kelly sent messages to friends saying, “I’m so f—ing scared” and “I’m in deep s—,” statements prosecutors pointed to as evidence that she knew she had avoided reporting the crash.

At the hearing, a family spokesperson read statements on behalf of the victim’s loved ones, including one from her widower, now 96. “My plan was completely different,” he wrote. “I’m older, and I couldn’t even imagine that I would be left without my other half. I shudder and my heart breaks every time people meet me on the street and remember how they saw us both every day.”

The judge sentenced Kelly to 10 years in prison, with three years to serve, along with 10 years of probation and a three-year suspension of her driver’s license.

original source