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Jury to consider felony indictment of suspect in deadly hit-and-run

Posted at 10:07 PM, Aug 02, 2012
and last updated 2012-08-02 22:24:22-04

RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) - Search warrants attached to a 2004 Dodge Durango shed light on evidence police have collected. 

That evidence will be on display Monday for a grand jury as they decide whether to indict Elias Webb for the felony hit-and-run death of 24-year-old  Lanie Kruszewski.

Police sources say Elias Webb admitted Thursday to driving the S-U-V that hit and killed Kruszewski while she was riding her bicycle on River Road Sunday night.

Sources told CBS 6 News' Jon Burkett that Webb also told investigators that at the time, he thought he had hit a deer.

“Based on the information I've seen it looks like the Commonwealth has a lot of circumstantial evidence and they have a pretty strong case," said retired Chesterfield Police Capt. Steve Neal.

The evidence will be on display for a grand jury Monday; that's when a panel of jurors will decide if the prosecution has enough evidence to charge Webb with felony hit-and-run, resulting in death, a Class Five felony.

“I can almost guarantee they will come back with a ‘true bill,’ because a grand jury will hear only evidence from the Commonwealth, not the defense," said Neal.

Meanwhile, Kruszewski's parents and sisters are preparing for her funeral Friday afternoon.  The loss of the Maggie Walker and James Madison University graduate looms large over family and friends.

Publisher Tom Lappas of the Henrico Citizen, a paper Lanie's mother Patty works for, said in a statement, “We are anxious for justice to be served in this case, but the sad reality is that an incident such as this one provides no happy conclusion.”

Lappas is also a family friend and tells CBS 6 he will continue to follow the legal process and do his best to support Patty Kruszewski and her two other daughters, Jackie and Leah.  He, too, said he will remember Lanie's positive spirit and the curiosity and happiness with which she lived her life every day.