A woman who went on the run after she was accused of causing a deadly crash in Hialeah nearly 20 years ago has been arrested, authorities say.
Leydis Menendez Abdala has been charged with vehicular homicide and DUI manslaughter, according to Miami-Dade jail records.
On Aug. 12, 2006, Menendez Abdala ran a flashing red light at the intersection of W 16 Avenue and W 68 Street and crashed into Gloria Hall shortly after 4 a.m, according to police.
Hall was killed and Menendez Abdala was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital.
Hall’s brother, Miami police Commander Joaquin Freire, described in an Instagram post in 2023 what happened next.
“They interviewed her and she pretty much signed a statement saying that she had been impaired, she had been drinking. So they had to keep on doing the investigation with the blood draw and everything at JMH. By the time Monday rolls around, they go to pick her up, she’s gone,” he said.
Menendez Abdala makes court appearance
Woman denied bond, accused in deadly Hialeah crash from nearly 20 years ago
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During a court hearing on Sunday, prosecutor Laura Adams told the judge that at the time of the crash, Menendez Abdala was dating someone at the Hialeah police department.
Adams said by the time the Hialeah police department’s homicide unit got the toxicology results from the blood test, Menendez Abdala’s boyfriend had “given her the heads up” and she fled the country.
Menendez Abdala was arrested in Mexico and brought back to South Florida last Friday, officials said.
A public defender for Menendez Abdala, 52, entered a written plea of not guilty on her behalf.
The state plans to file a motion for pre-trial detention.
Gloria Hall’s brother says they are “one step closer to justice”
“There are no words that can express the pain that we have endured for the past 19 years of having Gloria Marcia Hall, a mother, daughter, and sister who was taken from us due to the criminal and reckless actions of a person who has shown NO remorse. Now, nearly two decades later, we are one step closer to justice for Gloria,” Freire said in a statement on Monday.
Freire said in the statement that Menendez Abdala never took responsibility for her actions and fled the country to avoid prosecution.
“We are elated that justice is finally being pursued. While nothing can erase our pain, knowing that Gloria’s case has not been forgotten brings us strength and peace,” according to Freire’s statement.