The family of Maribel Pablo Matias, the 24-year-old Stockton resident who was run over by a driver on 73rd Avenue in Oakland on August 8, told The Oaklandside this week that they are still seeking “justice” for her death weeks later. 

Matias, the mother of a 7-year-old child, was hit by a driver near the corner of 73rd and Garfield avenues, in front of Mt. Tabor Baptist Church, at around 11:45 p.m. 

According to a report by to KTVU, Matias had been drinking at a party with friends nearby and got into an argument with her boyfriend. Once outside, two speeding cars approached her. It’s not clear from the video whether she was crossing the street or standing on the sidewalk at the time she was hit. 

A graphic video of the incident broadcast on the local Telemundo station shows the young woman getting run over by a white SUV that drives off. Neither the license plate nor the driver is visible in the video.

In a phone interview in Spanish, Romelia Perez Matias, Maribel’s sister, told The Oaklandside that she’s despondent about the lack of progress in identifying the suspect. The Oakland Police Department said on August 14 that they had located the vehicle that struck her sister but had not made any arrests. OPD did not respond to a request for an update about the case.

“There are cameras everywhere, and the federal government is picking up Brown people, but they can’t find who did this?” she said, in tears. 

Romelia, who lives in East Oakland with her partner, said she followed their oldest brother from Guatemala to the United States in 2018. They were joined by Maribel, their younger sister, a year later, and their mother some years after that. Romelia said the siblings immigrated to the United States because they felt they were in danger of physical violence in their home in Todos Santos Chuchumatan, their town in Guatemala. 

The trio found work in the fields of Stockton, California, picking grapes, onions, and tomatoes. At the time of her death, Maribel was working for a company in Tracy. 

“She loved to get up for work,” Romelia said. 

Maribel Matias died on August 8, 2026, after being hit by a speeding driver on 73rd Avenue. Credit: Romelia Perez Matias

Romelia said she has been especially sad as she imagines her niece growing up without her mother because the two had such a sweet, thoughtful relationship. Maribel used to love playing with her daughter and took special care of her long braids, which she styled in traditional Maya designs and adorned with bows. 

The night Maribel was killed began in a festive manner. 

According to Romelia, members of the family attended a group birthday party for several kids in Richmond, each of whom was given a small stipend, cake, and blessings from other families. After the party, Maribel headed out with a friend and her boyfriend while Romelia went back home, taking Maribel’s daughter with her. Maribel called a few hours later, sounding a bit tipsy, to invite Romelia to hang out with her near 73rd Avenue, Romelia said. When Romelia and her partner David Mendoza showed up, they saw a police car interrogating people, but it never occurred to her that it had anything to do with Maribel. 

When they couldn’t find Maribel, they went back home, and Romelia told Maribel’s daughter that she would scold her mother for staying out so late. 

The next day, Romelia and Mendoza grew more worried and drove all around Oakland trying to find her. They even checked the county jail, where an officer told them to look for her in a hospital. Just then, Romelia got a call from Maribel’s phone.

A woman on the other end of the line told her that Maribel was dead. 

“I’m so sorry,” the woman said.

Romelia said the city needs to slow down cars and that too few police officers are enforcing speed limits on 73rd Avenue. If there were, she said, her sister might still be alive. 

“I want justice for my sister because that road is dangerous,” she said. “They let people drive too fast.” 

In the aftermath of Maribel’s death, members of the Mam community in Oakland and Stockton held several vigils in her honor, including one at her home in Stockton, where she lived with her daughter and her mother, who is, for now, taking care of her orphaned 7-year-old granddaughter. There, people prayed for hours, according to Radio B’alam Tsc, a local Mam news outlet, many of them on their knees, asking God for a way to understand what had happened. 

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