24-year-old Las Vegas woman killed by suspected DUI driver

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - The death of a woman hit by a suspected DUI driver over the Halloween weekend marked the 125th traffic-related fatality in the jurisdiction of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

The woman’s mother on Wednesday shared how her daughter’s life is not just another statistic.

On Saturday, Las Vegas police said a 41-year-old man driving a Jeep Compass ran a red light and crashed into a Hyundai Elantra as it was making a left turn off of Eastern Avenue and Hacienda. Faith Hodgson, 24, was the driver of the Hyundai. She was taken to Sunrise Hospital but police said succumbed to her injuries.

Police said the driver of the Jeep displayed signs of impairment and was arrested for DUI-related charges.

Trish Hodgson said her daughter was driving home from work. She was less than a quarter mile away from home.

“She was my whole world. I’ve been a single mom since she was about five months old. It was just us, she was my team and now she’s gone,” Trish Hodgson said.

Hodgson described her daughter as empathetic, caring and uplifting.

“She reached out to more friends than I even realized and kept in constant contact with them. She was just a very positive, very positive influence on everybody,” Trish Hodgson said.

One of the friends Faith kept in touch with was Marquita Edwards. They met at Carrington College for dental assistant school in 2017.

Edwards currently lives in Texas and spoke with FOX5 over Zoom.

“She was always that person I knew like, you know what if I need to talk to somebody it’s going to be Faith,” Edwards said.

Edwards said when she found out what happened she felt shocked and then anger.

“Drinking and driving isn’t worth it. It isn’t worth it for yourself and the people around you,” Edwards said.

On Wednesday morning the non-profit organization Stop DUI, Metro, and others put up around 100 signs as part of their annual ‘Miles of Memories.’ It’s a reminder of the innocent DUI victims. The signs are located on Kyle Canyon Road as drivers head to Mt. Charleston.

Diane Malone flew in from Florida to put up a sign for her daughter and son-in-law. Malone said in May of 2018 her daughter Christa and son-in-law Damaso were killed while sitting at a stoplight at Sahara and Hualapai. Malone said the driver who hit them was going more than 100mph.

“It’s the innocent that get killed. And there was a young lady with her son in the car that started to pull up behind Christa and Damaso at that stoplight and at the last minute she changed lanes and then he rammed Christa and Damaso so it could’ve been that woman and her young child it could’ve been anybody,” Malone said.

She credits Stop DUI for helping her get through the last 4 and a half years.

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