Family devastated after mother of six children dies in Pomona hit-and-run crash

POMONA, Calif. (KABC) -- A family is heartbroken after a 57-year-old mother of six children was killed in a hit-and-run crash in Pomona.

Carol Fuentes was hospitalized for more than a week before she died. Family members say she was just three minutes from her home when a driver slammed into her vehicle and then ran off.

Officers responded to a three-car crash in the area of Garey and Orange Grove avenues around 9 p.m. July 5, according to the Pomona Police Department. Fuentes and another person were injured in the crash.

Police say the driver of a Ford Expedition fled the scene and remains on the run. The impact of the crash mangled Fuentes' blue Nissan.

"I just hope the person who did this to her can't sleep at night and they come forward because they murdered my mom," Fuentes' daughter Bridget Diaz said.

Fuentes' family says she fought to stay alive after she suffered severe damage to her spinal cord and brain. She succumbed to her injuries this week.

Fuentes leaves behind six children and a husband of 32 years.

"There is nothing that's ever going to fill this void," Diaz said.

The family launched a GoFundMe page to help pay for costly expenses and the financial burden of laying their mother to rest.

"Nobody has that readily available so we're asking for donations, any help, even a prayer," Diaz said.

Relatives pray the person responsible will turn themselves in.

"To wreck a whole car and kill somebody like that - not knowing if they're dead or not is what hurts the most," Fuentes' son Andy Diaz said.

"I would have more respect for you if you would have stayed," he said about the driver who fled.

Pomona police urge anyone with information to come forward.