Columbia woman gets 120-day program, suspended sentence after plea deal in deadly crash

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A woman who reached a deal with the state to drop a manslaughter charge for a deadly Columbia hit-and-run crash was sentenced to a short jail stay and probation Tuesday.

Judge Ben Miller sentenced Elizabeth Lopez to seven years in prison on three hit-and-run charges, but the judge suspended the sentence, with five years of probation. She will have to serve in a 120-day jail program.

Elizabeth Lopez was charged with second-degree involuntary manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident following the collision on West Broadway that killed 18-year-old Walker Davis in 2023. She pleaded guilty on March 23 to three counts of leaving the scene and the manslaughter charge was dropped.

After the crash, police say Lopez re-entered the Kelly's Ridge apartments parking lot and fled the scene. Court documents allege she went back to her apartment and told her boyfriend about the crash. While officers investigated the scene and towed her vehicle from outside the apartment, Lopez allegedly did not make herself known to the police.