ANTIOCH, Calif. – Police have identified the young woman found dead along L Street early last week as 17-year-old Jeana Flores, and investigators now believe she was struck by a vehicle in what authorities are calling a fatal hit-and-run.
The Antioch Police Department confirmed the new findings after the Contra Costa County Coroner’s Office completed an autopsy over the weekend. The results shifted the case from a suspicious death to a criminal traffic investigation. Flores was discovered around 3:30 a.m. on January 23 along the roadside between West 10th and West 18th streets, where officers arrived to find her unresponsive. Despite immediate lifesaving efforts, she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police initially treated the incident as suspicious while awaiting forensic results. The coroner’s report indicated injuries consistent with being struck by a vehicle. Detectives have not yet identified any suspects or vehicles involved, and no arrests have been made.
The department’s Traffic Safety Unit has now taken over the case and is urging anyone with information or video from the area that night to come forward. Investigators are focusing on surveillance footage from nearby homes and businesses in hopes of identifying the driver responsible.
Flores, who was not a student within the Antioch Unified School District, has been described by police only as a 17-year-old local resident. Her death marks the latest in a series of pedestrian fatalities under investigation in Contra Costa County.
Breaking now, Federal Child Exploitation Operation Targets Disney Cruise Line Workers.
• Autopsy shows 17-year-old Jeana Flores was killed in a hit-and-run on L Street
• Antioch police have reclassified the case from a suspicious death to a traffic crime
• Detectives are seeking witnesses or surveillance footage to locate the driver
Anyone with information is urged to contact Officer James Desiderio at (925) 331-7474 or by email at jdesiderio@antiochca.gov. Anonymous tips can also be submitted through local crime reporting hotlines.
The investigation remains ongoing as authorities work to determine who was behind the wheel the morning Flores lost her life.