Troopers say the October crash in Volusia County left three people dead, injured another driver and ended with the suspected SUV abandoned.
DEBARY, FL — A 23-year-old Ocala woman was arrested Friday in a hit-and-run crash that investigators say began with a lane change on Interstate 4 in October and ended with three people dead, another driver hurt and months of questions for the victims’ families.
Florida Highway Patrol said Lindsey Brooke Isaacs was taken into custody more than six months after the Oct. 4, 2025, wreck on eastbound I-4 near DeBary Avenue in Volusia County. Prosecutors are now moving the case from a long-running traffic homicide investigation into the court system, with Isaacs accused of fleeing after the collision and facing three counts of vehicular homicide and three counts of leaving the scene of a crash involving death. The case matters not only because of the death toll, but because one of the people killed was Jorge Salinas, a senior Flagler County administrator, and because relatives of the dead have spent months publicly asking for accountability.
According to troopers, the crash happened about 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 4, when a 2025 Dodge Durango traveling east on I-4 moved from the center lane into the inside lane and into the path of a 2013 Ford Focus. Investigators say that first impact set off a violent chain reaction. The Focus struck a 2001 Suzuki motorcycle, hit a guardrail, then went back into the roadway and slammed into a 2020 Honda Pilot. The motorcyclist and both people in the Pilot were pronounced dead at the scene, while the Focus driver was taken to AdventHealth Fish Memorial Hospital with injuries described at the time as non-life-threatening. Troopers later said the Durango left the scene and was found unoccupied in a parking lot by the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office. For months, that abandoned SUV stood as the clearest public sign of the criminal side of the case.
The dead were identified as Jorge Salinas, 59, the deputy county administrator in Flagler County, his wife, Nancy Salinas, 60, and Joaquin Deno, 54, of Deltona. Officials in Flagler County quickly described Salinas as a central figure in county government. County Administrator Heidi Petito said after the crash that Salinas was “a very strong partner in leading Flagler County” and said he was already missed. The county later held a public celebration of life for Jorge and Nancy Salinas. Deno’s family, meanwhile, spoke in the days after the wreck about the personal shock of watching a routine ride home turn deadly. His daughter, Jesteny Deno, told local television that her father was “a very loving and caring guy” who would give people the shirt off his back. Her husband, Rafael Class, said he had been riding alongside Deno shortly before the crash and remembered him moving slightly ahead moments before everything changed.
Investigators have publicly laid out the broad mechanics of the wreck, but some details remain unclear. Troopers have said the suspected Durango driver changed lanes and struck the Focus, causing the rest of the collision sequence. Authorities have not publicly described in detail what investigators believe happened inside the Durango in the minutes after the crash, how long it took to locate the vehicle, or what specific evidence allowed them to identify Isaacs as the driver months later. They have, however, said that traffic homicide investigators took the SUV into evidence and treated the case as an active criminal investigation from the start. That left a long gap between the public search for the driver in October and the arrest announced in mid-April. During that time, families of the victims spoke openly about anger over the decision to leave the scene. Jesteny Deno said in one interview that what stayed with her most was that the vehicle appeared to stop before driving away, a detail relatives said deepened their grief.
The setting of the crash added to its weight in Central Florida. Interstate 4 is one of the region’s busiest and most heavily watched highways, and major wrecks there often snarl traffic across county lines. In early October, the hit-and-run near mile marker 108 drew immediate attention because it killed three people in a single four-vehicle crash and because one of the victims was a top public official. Salinas had served as Flagler County’s deputy county administrator since 2020 and was remembered by county leaders as a steady presence in local government. In the weeks after the wreck, county officials publicly mourned him and his wife, then moved to fill the leadership vacancy he left behind. Deno was remembered in a different public space, among relatives and motorcycle riders who honored him with a tribute ride on Oct. 12. The parallel memorials showed how one highway crash sent grief through both a government office and a family-and-friends riding community.
Now the case turns on the charges and the court calendar. Authorities said Isaacs was booked into the Volusia County Jail after her arrest Friday. The charges listed publicly are three counts of leaving the scene of a crash involving death, three counts of vehicular homicide, one count of leaving the scene of a crash involving serious bodily injury and one count of reckless driving causing serious bodily injury. Fox 35 reported that she was being held without bond on the vehicular homicide counts and on the counts involving leaving the scene of a deadly crash. A warrant had been issued after the extended investigation, according to local reports on the arrest. A next court appearance was reported to be scheduled for May 13. From here, the case is expected to move through first appearances, formal charging decisions and the usual exchange of evidence between prosecutors and the defense, while investigators and attorneys sort through crash reconstruction findings and any other physical or digital records tied to the SUV and the people involved.
Even with an arrest, the human part of the story remains close to the surface. Deno’s daughter told reporters she felt partial relief after learning someone had been arrested, but she also said no court case can restore what her family lost. “You took a big part away from me that I can never get back,” she said in one television interview. In Flagler County, officials framed the loss in civic terms as well as personal ones, saying Salinas left a void in county leadership. The different reactions point to the same fact at the center of the case. Three people who were on the road that night never came home, and one surviving driver was left to recover while the search for the person accused in the crash stretched into the spring. For months, the public record had been a timeline of wreck, abandoned vehicle, memorial services and unanswered questions. The arrest changed that record, but it did not close the case.
As of Sunday, Isaacs remained in custody and the criminal case was entering its first formal stage, with a reported May 13 court date standing as the next major milestone in a crash investigation that began on I-4 the night of Oct. 4, 2025.
Author note: Last updated April 19, 2026.