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Family members turn to social media hoping to find answers in fatal hit-and-run crash on Plank Road

21 hours 23 minutes 44 seconds ago Wednesday, April 02 2025 Apr 2, 2025 April 02, 2025 5:33 PM April 02, 2025 in News
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE — A Baton Rouge family said social media responded quickly to help solve a fatal hit-and-run crash on Plank Road that happened over the weekend.

LaDerica Stewart, 22, was struck and killed in the crash. Her cousin Di'Arbonee Smith and two others were injured.

Family members said their inboxes have been flooded with messages of people reaching out, offering any bit of information that might help them, as well as sympathy as the family grieves.

“A lot of people send stuff saying I don't know if this is going to help you or not, but this is what I saw, this is what I heard, this is what I have to offer,” Smith's mother Diantheus Smith said.

Diantheus Smith and another family member, Jacqueline Roan-Lea, said they were able to identify a car that may have been involved in the crash after being bombarded with the community’s help in solving the crime.

“The only reason we found that car is because the public, the community, spoke up. The only reason. And whoever did this, people are talking. Give yourself up,” Roan-Lea said.

Baton Rouge Police said they have not made an arrest and the investigation is ongoing, but the family said that people are continuing to give them information.

"I also heard it wasn't just one person in the car, so we need that other person too," Diantheus Smith said.

The family said they're grateful for the community's support and that they are still looking for answers.

"Just give us closure. That's all we're asking for is for someone to step up and say, hey look, I did this, it was an accident or it wasn't an accident," Di'Arbonee's sister Sharnae Smith said.

The family said they will continue to seek justice until the person responsible is brought in.

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