JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Tatiana Saleh spent four hours on the phone with her best friend Savana Pendarvis the night before Savana was killed. The call lasted until 11 p.m. She didn’t know it would be their last.
“It still always feels like we got cut off mid-conversation,” Saleh told News4JAX.
Months after that call, the man accused of causing Savana’s death is finally in custody. Alexander Rivera-Russo, 24, was arrested after investigators tracked him to a home in Oakleaf, in Clay County. For Saleh, the news brought relief — and a painful new reality.
“I was relieved, and then of course, it’s immediately followed by that, you know, she really is gone now,” Saleh said. “Like, there is no turning around.”
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The crash that started the search
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office says Rivera-Russo was speeding down University Boulevard in January when he rear-ended Savana’s car, sending it into a telephone pole. As her car caught fire, investigators say Rivera-Russo got out of his vehicle and ran. Savana died at the scene.
The months that followed were agonizing for the people who loved her.
“Feeling like this person has just gotten away with it, it’s scot-free and it’s off, we don’t know where he is, if he’s out of the country,” Saleh said. “That unknowing just left it as like an open wound that could never fully scab over or fully heal.”
SWAT team moves in to make the arrest
The search ended when investigators tracked Rivera-Russo to a home in Oakleaf. The Clay County Sheriff’s Office says its SWAT team used gas after attempts to get him out of the home. He surrendered and was taken into custody.
Saleh says it’s already been a surreal adjustment — one the arrest only deepens.
“It’s already so much of a surreal adjustment to not have her here to talk to and navigate all of life with,” she said.
‘Just think about her light’
Saleh says she wants the public to remember Savana the way she did — not through the lens of the crash or the suspect.
“I would hope that people continue to keep that memory of her life and don’t think about the accident. Don’t think about what this guy did,” Saleh said. “Just think about her light and her laugh and her generosity and her willingness to do anything for the people she loved, because that’s all we have left.”
What comes next
Rivera-Russo now faces charges including vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of a deadly crash. The investigation is not over. JSO says investigators are also looking into whether anyone helped Rivera-Russo hide during the months they were searching for him.
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