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College Student Charged In Fatal Dedham Hit And Run

DEDHAM (CBS) – A 21-year-old Mount Ida College senior soccer player turned himself in after friends of a hit-and-run victim pleaded for answers.

Nicholas Rivas-Vasquez is accused of hitting 54-year old Dedham mom Jean Heppler with his car. Prosecutors say he took off, leaving her dead on a sidewalk near a Dedham intersection.

"She has a 15-year-old daughter that's sitting at home with no mother," said her best friend, Lauri Portanova. "I'm just glad there's justice for Jeannie. She can rest in peace. You don't leave a dog in the road, let alone a human being."

Dedham Hit And Run
Nicholas Rivas-Vasquez. (Image Credit: Mount Ida College athletics department)

The defense attorney representing Rivas-Vasquez says he had no idea it happened until he saw news reports, which prompted him to go to police. "It was a rainy windy night, so he initially thought something had blown and hit his car. He went back and checked the area and didn't see the woman," said Thomas Kerner.

It was a Domino's Pizza delivery person who clued police in. Cynthia Cardillo happened to know Heppler, and saw her walking near Washington Street Friday night.

Then moments later, from a distance she heard a noise. "I can't begin to describe to you how loud that thud was...at first I thought it was a gunshot. That's how loud it was," said Cardillo. "When I close my eyes at night, I still have that image of her lying on the sidewalk, no shoes on, raining. Kind of an awful feeling...God knows how long she would have laid there until somebody else did find her."

The judge set bail at $5,000. His attorney says he's a scholarship student from Hamden, Connecticut.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Lana Jones reports: 

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