Daughters of victim in 2017 fatal crash say latest Lehigh Acres fatality needn't have happened

It just doesn't sit well with Roxanne James and Rayanna Edwards.

The driver who hit their father's car in 2017, causing fatal injuries to 82-year-old Ernest Wayne Peterson, was involved in another fatal crash Wednesday. This time it was a 23-year-old woman who died.

The other driver, Andy I. Gonzalez, then 21, was charged with vehicular homicide and reckless driving in the 2017 case. He was found not guilty on the homicide charge during a jury trial and the reckless charge was dropped. 

"We thought it was a slam dunk case," James said. "If the jury (in 2017) would have found him guilty, maybe (Roxana Castro) would still be alive."

Latest reporting:Driver in Wednesday's fatal crash in Lehigh faced vehicular homicide charges in 2017 crash

James, 49, a real estate agent, was with her father at an open house in Lehigh Acres on April 30, 2017. Peterson, a retired school custodian and a Vietnam veteran, often came to his daughter's open house dates, she said.

"He was there about an hour," James said. "Like he usually did, for my security'."

Shortly after he left that afternoon, James walked outside to close the open house.

"I heard something, then I saw a lot of traffic," she said. "I wondered why there was so much."

Then James got a call. Her dad was in the hospital.

As she made her way to him, James passed the crash scene. She saw her dad's smashed up Nissan Altima pushed across Leeland Boulevard and resting against one of her open house signs.

Peterson suffered a collapsed lung, broken pelvic bone and a gash on his neck from the seat belt.

James and Edwards had held out hope that their dad might recover.

"He died two weeks later," James said, "the day after Mother's Day. The whole family was in shock."

They still are in shock.

"He was a perfectly healthy person. He went out and cut his own lawn. He had just installed his own (kitchen) cabinets," James said. "And he was always careful driving. He didn't drive at night. This was at 3 p.m. on Sunday."

James said her children didn't handle their grandfather's death well. Her son Dakota used to go to her father's house to spend the night.

"My dad's death was the first time they had to deal with anything like that," she said.

If the sisters wanted to talk about the crash, she said, they waited until the kids weren't around.

"My son would clam up," she said. "And my daughter would go to her room and cry."

"I am angry with the system that set (Gonzalez) free," Edwards added. "He did not suffer any consequences from his previous actions and should have. I was hoping that he would have learned from what he did.  Apparently he did not. Unfortunately the jury did not share our opinion that he should have to pay."

Read:Woman killed in crash on Lee Boulevard in Lehigh Acres; 95th fatality in Lee County this year

The ensuing trial, at first, looked like there would be an outcome the family sought. James said there were a number of witnesses who said that Gonzalez was driving recklessly right before the crash.

Information in the police crash report said that the black box inside the vehicle Gonzalez was driving showed it was traveling 88 mph and no brakes were applied before the crash.

The not guilty verdict was a surprise, James said, even apparently to Gonzalez.

"You could see his face when the verdict was read," she said. "He was surprised, too. He got off scot-free. We were all floored."

The State Attorney's Office for 20th Judicial Circuit said sometimes juries come back with a not guilty verdict after listening to the facts and evidence of a case.

"Assistant State Attorney Martin Stark, of our Homicide Unit, filed the charge of vehicular homicide in case number 17-016992CF in which an Andy Gonzalez was a defendant," said Samantha Syoen, SAO communications director.

She said the State called five witnesses which also included expert testimony. The jury deliberated and found the defendant not guilty.

James acknowledged that Leeland Heights is a racetrack sometimes.

"Nobody drives the speed limit on Leeland," she said. She added that she recently noticed speed limit signs of 45 mph had been changed. 

"Now they say 40," she said.

The county confirmed that the speed limit was reduced to 40 mph in mid-August. The limits of that change was a 4.5-mile stretch from Maryland Road and Leeland Heights to 12th Street and Joel Boulevard.

James said she and her sister get together at times to talk about the crash.

She said the family dealt mostly with a victim's advocate from the state attorney's office after the crash. With the new fatality and the same driver, she said she would love to reach out to Gonzalez' former attorney.

"I'd let him know that if his client hadn't been let go, maybe this wouldn't have happened," she said, adding that she looks forward to a possible new trial. "(My sister and I) want to sit in the courtroom and listen. It's sad."

Still, there have been no charges yet in the most recent crash.

The FHP said that a toxicology examination was being conducted and that charges, if any, would come after that was finished. Normally such exams take several weeks.

Family members of Castro and Gonzalez did not respond to questions about the case.

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