Northeast News
Dec. 23, 2015

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — A Newton, Mo., woman has been charged with murder in connection to a hit and run earlier this year that claimed the life of Marianna Hernandez-Gonzales and seriously injured her children.

According to a press release from Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker, Deanna Holleran, 26, has been charged with second-degree murder; a class A felony, first-degree tampering with a motor vehicle; a class C felony, leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident; a class D felony, and three counts of second-degree assault, each a class C felony. Holleran is believed to be the driver of the fatal hit and run that happened last September at the intersection of Ninth Street and Hardesty Avenue. The release states that the felony murder charge is based on the fact that Hernandez-Gonzales was killed in a motor vehicle collision that resulted from the Holleran’s perpetration of the class C felony of tampering.

According to court records, police were dispatched to the area of Ninth and Hardesty on the evening of Sept. 15, 2015, and found Hernandez-Gonzales deceased at the scene. Her overturned Chevy Tahoe and a heavily damaged vehicle were nearby. The victim was ejected from the vehicle. Hernandez-Gonzales’s husband and six children were also in the vehicle, three children were transported to the hospital for treatment of their injuries.

Holleran allegedly told police she knew the vehicle she was driving was stolen and that she had been using methamphetamines and marijuana prior to getting into the vehicle. She also stated as she approached the Ninth and Hardesty intersection, she knew she had a red light.

“Out of fear for her life, she said she closed her eyes and gunned it,” the report says. Then the accident occurred.

Holleran’s bond has been set at $500,000. The case remains under investigation. Holleran is not yet in police custody.