SANTA CRUZ — The 59-year-old Soquel woman charged with killing a pedestrian at a Capitola shopping center and fleeing the scene last year has avoided trial by pleading guilty to charges.
Debra Towne, 70, of Capitola, was walking across the commercial Crossroads Loop at Bay Avenue on the night of Nov. 18 when she was struck and killed by a passing vehicle not far from her home. With the help of surveillance footage from the area, Capitola Police Department investigators tied the hit-and-run to Aurora Lopez, who had been driving a 2023 Honda Pilot, and arrested her Dec. 1. Lopez remained held without bail this week in Santa Cruz County Jail.
During what was scheduled as a hearing Friday to confirm Lopez’s preliminary hearing this week, she instead changed her earlier not-guilty plea to guilty on charges of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter with ordinary negligence and felony hit-and-run causing death, according to the Santa Cruz County Superior Court system. Atypically, Judge Nancy de la Peña scheduled Lopez’s sentencing more than a year into the future, out to Dec. 1, 2025.
Throughout the past 10 months, Towne’s daughter Adrienne West has sat with family and supporters through each hearing as court dates continually have been delayed. Nearly a year later, West said she still feels the urge to text or call her mother daily to share important or even trivial news. As end-of-year holidays approach — favorites for Towne — West said she is doing her best to keep her mother’s memory alive for family.
West said over the weekend that she was shocked to see Friday’s sudden plea reversal, especially after Lopez had rejected earlier plea deal offerings from the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office.
