An alleged hit-and-run driver who killed a cyclist and fled the country nearly two years ago, leading authorities on a manhunt that spanned three continents and the Pacific Ocean, may finally see a day in court.

Andrea Dorothy Chan Reyes was arrested by Australian police earlier this year and may soon be extradited to the U.S., where she’s expected to stand trial for killing Agustin Rodriguez, Jr., in a brutal car-bike crash.



Rodriguez was biking to work in Whittier, California, in January 2017 when a driver in a white Lexus struck him “at a high rate of speed,” according to FBI charging documents. After hitting Rodriguez, the driver “slowed down briefly and then sped up,” dragging Rodriguez under the car for several hundred feet before fleeing. Fifteen minutes later, medics pronounced Rodriguez dead at the scene.

About a week after that, an anonymous caller pointed Whittier police in the direction of Chan Reyes, who drove a white Lexus and was late to work on the day of the crash. Employees at a local auto body shop confirmed that they did front bodywork on the Lexus and replaced its windshield for Chan Reyes, who claimed at the time that she had hit a deer.

But the vehicle was nowhere to be found. Over the next month, police followed a string of clues to Idaho, where the Lexus was discovered inside the garage of a business associate of Chan Reyes’s then-boyfriend, Alan Gold. DNA testing proved the Lexus was the same car that struck Rodriguez.



Agustin Rodriguez, Jr. Facebook

Like the Lexus, however, Chan Reyes had disappeared. Five days after the crash, she fled to Hong Kong, where she had family. Whittier police enlisted the FBI in the now-international search, which led them across the sea to Asia and later, Australia. Over the next year, Chan Reyes eluded authorities, traveling between Asia and Australia multiple times. It’s believed she used up to 11 different aliases during those months.

In April of this year, local police in Adelaide, Australia, acting on a provisional request from the U.S. government, finally arrested Chan Reyes at the home of her new boyfriend. More than eight months after the arrest, she remains in an Australian prison. A local court is expected to rule on her bail request later this month.

Whittier Police spokesperson John Scoggins refused to comment on most aspects of the ongoing case, but said his department was determined to see an alleged hit-and-run driver brought to justice, no matter where she ran. “We continued to follow the evidence, and eventually, it led us to where we are today,” he said.

After Chan Reyes’s presumed extradition, she’s expected to face multiple felony charges, including vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run, along with a separate federal charge for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. She could serve up to 15 years in prison if convicted.



A Whittier police flyer requesting information about the white Lexus involved in the hit-and-run that killed Agustin Rodriguez, Jr. Whittier Police Department

Both Scoggins and FBI spokesperson Rukelt Dalberis said Gold and his business partner have not been charged as accessories, but that could change. “We haven’t talked to [Chan Reyes] yet, as she’s still being held overseas,” Scoggins said. “We’re waiting until she’s expedited back to the U.S. and we can gather more information.”

In interviews with the press, Rodriguez’s family praised the beloved late father of three. “He was definitely a family man,” the victim’s niece, Angelica Miller, told the local CBS affiliate. “He was a gentle, kind person. There isn’t a person who could say a bad thing about him.”



The pursuit and arrest of Chan Reyes is notable not only because it spanned the globe, but because authorities don’t often go to such lengths when a cyclist is killed. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, more than 780 cyclists were killed on U.S. roads in 2017. Yet as former Bicycling editor Peter Flax noted in a story for Outside, drivers rarely face felony charges when their actions behind the wheel leave a rider dead.

That is, unless they’re under the influence of drugs or alcohol—or decide to flee the scene. Colorado attorney Megan Hottman said the hit-and-run component “adds an intentional aspect” to what might otherwise be considered an accidental or careless scenario, making it easier to prosecute.

In July 2017, for instance, when a driver struck and injured a cyclist on the Natchez Trace Parkway in Tennessee and fled home, he was quickly arrested and later pleaded guilty to multiple charges, taking a deal to serve a 10-month sentence. Yet the merely distracted driver who killed two on a Florida group ride last month did not face any charges, and multiple attorneys told Bicycling that they doubt she ever will.



“Someone may ‘accidentally or unintentionally’ hit a cyclist,” Hottman said. “But [if] they choose to leave the scene, that’s what takes it from a misdemeanor [or no charge] to a felony in most states.”

Robert Annis After spending nearly a decade as a reporter for The Indianapolis Star, Robert Annis finally broke free of the shackles of gainful employment and now freelances full time, specializing in cycling and outdoor-travel journalism. Over the years, Robert's byline has appeared in numerous publications and websites, including Outside, National Geographic Traveler, Afar, Bicycling, Men's Journal, Popular Mechanics, Lonely Planet, the Chicago Tribune, and Adventure.com

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