2017 Carson Valley fatal hit and run remains unresolved

Members of Roberto Palomar-Espinoza’s family are observing a sixth Christmas without answers to his July 1, 2017, hit and run death.

“We are still waiting for justice for Roberto,” said aunt Maria Prado-Espinosa. “We still living with a hole in our hearts that is not healing. We are angry and frustrated.”

Palomar-Espinoza’s body was found alongside Fremont Avenue south of Johnson Lane around 5 a.m. after being struck by a vehicle that night and left to die.

A spokesman for the Nevada State Police said the case remains open and that they will follow up on any tips they receive.

A Carson Valley resident most of his life, Palomar-Espinoza graduated from ASPIRE Academy in 2015 the year after he lost his father.

He’d just received his drivers license and was working in Gardnerville when he went to a bonfire party that night, before heading to another party at a home in the neighborhood. Family members said he decided to walk home and was apparently struck during the night. Weather records for the day says the moon set around 1 a.m.

“We know that there are people who know what happened,” Prado-Espinosa said, “but they are not talking. As if his life meant nothing.”

She said the family hasn’t heard from law enforcement in around a year, and when they do, there isn’t any news.

“In the meantime, Roberto’s family is left with no answers, we are left wondering, we are left with nothing but memories and this open wound that won’t heal,” she said. “I see Roberto’s face when I look at my son or his cousins. When I go to his house it feels like he is there waiting. Sometimes I wish I could communicate with Roberto, and for him to tell me who did this to him and why.”

The case is still open and the family urges anyone with information to contact either the Nevada State Police at ncwmirt@dps.state.nv.us regarding case No. 170700025 or the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office on case No. 17SO-19545.

In addition to Saturday’s collision, there have been six fatal crashes being investigated by the Nevada State Police during 2022. Five of those occurred over a five-week period last spring. Five traffic fatalities occurred in 2021, according to zerofatalitiesnv.com

No pedestrian deaths were reported in either year. In 2019, the only fatality reported by the state was a pedestrian, when a woman ran out into traffic on Highway 395 near Cradlebaugh Bridge.