Texas Mom of 2 Internally Decapitated in Hit-and-Run While Crossing Road, as Driver Remains at Large

NEED TO KNOW

Lolita Moore, 39, was critically injured in a hit-and-run accident while crossing the road at an intersection in Houston on March 12, officials said

Moore was internally decapitated, says her family, who are seeking the public’s help to locate the driver, who police may have been driving a black Honda CR-V

Investigators tell PEOPLE they are trying to obtain video from the scene of the crash

A 39-year-old mother of two was internally decapitated in a hit-and-run crash in Texas last week, her family tells PEOPLE. They are seeking the public’s help to locate the person who struck her.

Lolita Moore was crossing the road at the intersection of FM 1960 and Cypress Station Road in Houston around 8 p.m. on March 12 when she was struck, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

Moore had just left the grocery store and was on her way back home, her sister, Jasmine Bates, tells PEOPLE.

Moore is believed to have tripped over her shoe and fallen before she was struck, according to Bates. Moore was taken to the hospital with shallow breathing and a fractured skull, the sheriff’s office said.

Bates says doctors have told the family that Moore was internally decapitated. Internal decapitation occurs when the skull separates from the spinal column.

“Her skull is disconnected from her neck and her spine,” says Bates, 28, adding that Moore’s head is being stabilized with a brace and she has undergone a tracheostomy.

Moore has had many surgeries and hasn’t fully awakened, Bates says.

“She has been able, sometimes, here and there, to kind of flicker her eyes,” Bates says. “She has a breathing tube.”

The driver, who may have been operating a black Honda CR-V, fled the scene, according to the sheriff’s office. A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office tells PEOPLE they are trying to retrieve video from the scene.

Moore, the eldest of eight siblings, has two daughters who are 12 and 19. They are now under the care of Sermon Swafford, 34, another of Moore’s sisters.

“She’s in a situation that she’s still fighting for her life,” Swafford says. “And that not only changed her life, but everybody’s that is around her. Her child was expecting to go home to her that day.”

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Moore’s family is urging the person who struck her to come forward.

“I do hope that they come forward because she deserves that much,” Bates says. “She has children, she has family, she is someone’s mother, someone’s sister, someone’s daughter, someone’s aunt, and you really left her for dead.”

Bates and Swafford question why the driver did not remain at the scene.

“How would you want bystanders to respond if that had been your child or you or someone very close to you?” Bates says. “Would you like for them to leave the scene?”

Moore’s family launched a GoFundMe to help with the cost of her recovery.

Anyone with information on the driver or vehicle is urged to contact the HCSO at 713-221-6000.

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