Family and friends gather to mourn couple killed in Arlington hit-and-run
Dozens upon dozens of balloons rose through the Arlington sky Saturday evening as friends and family gathered at S.J. Stovall Park to mourn the couple killed in a hit-and-run last Sunday near East Lamar Boulevard.
Pink balloons for Kiara Valdez, the 23-year-old whose mother, Nicole Valdez, described as “pure joy.”
Blue balloons for Jahlil Kirkland, Kiara’s 22-year-old boyfriend, whose family called him PNut.
One of her last and favorite memories of the couple, Valdez said, was the Friday after Thanksgiving this year.
Kiara told her mother that there was a package on the way to her house, Valdez said. When Kiara called again to say that the package had arrived, Valdez opened the door to find her and Jahlil on the front porch, she said.
“Jahlil was like, ‘She was missing her mama, so we Ubered over here, I had to get her over here to see you if she was missing you,’” Valdez said.
The two were walking home after eating at Steak ‘n Shake early Dec. 15 when 33-year-old Nathan Vaughan of Grand Prairie struck them with his vehicle, police said.
Investigators determined Vaughan was the driver after widespread media coverage resulted in a tip, police said.
The tipster told police they had seen the suspect’s vehicle, a silver Chevrolet Malibu with heavy front-end damage, in the parking lot of a bar, police said.
Police arrested Vaughan on Dec. 17 and charged him with two counts of collision involving death, officials said.
The charge is not Vaughan’s first: At the time of Kiara & Jahlil’s deaths, he was out on bond from a DWI charge in December of last year, according to Tarrant County court records.
On that occasion, Vaughan was found to have had a blood alcohol content of 0.15 or more, according to records. That amount is nearly twice the legal limit of 0.08 for Texas drivers.
“He should have been in jail for several things and reasons,” Kiara’s aunt Chante Valdez said. “I’m angry, and really, the justice system has failed us once again.”
Valdez said she hopes that this time there will be no bond for Vaughan.
“Had he been locked up, they would both be alive,” Valdez said.
For Kiara’s family, the arrest is just the beginning.
“That crash literally crashed our family’s life,” Nicole Valdez said. “It’s in pieces now, and we’re stuck trying to pick up those pieces.”
This story was originally published December 21, 2024 at 7:48 PM.
