An elderly Olmsted Falls woman has pleaded not guilty in the death of a Olmsted Township boy by a hit-skip driver.
Helen Fettes, 80, appeared before Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Maureen Clancy Tuesday morning. Fettes let her attorney plead for her and didn't appear to say anything. Judge Clancy set bond at $10,000.
Dressed in a gray cardigan sweater over a burgundy turtleneck, Fettes walked unsteadily to the podium when her case was called.
Fettes faces charges of aggravated vehicular homicide, failure to stop after an accident and tampering with evidence.
On Oct. 17, police said Charles Kho Jr., 13, was struck by a car while walking along Cook Road in Olmsted Township. He was with friends passing out invitations to his 13th birthday party. The driver left the scene.
Kho was taken to the hospital, where he died the next day, ONN's affiliate WEWS reported.
The medical examiner's office said that Kho died from blunt force trauma to his head and the manner of his death was an accident.
Police immediately began searching for the driver, and were tipped off by Dina Hanrahan, who is the office manager at the Ganley Automotive Body Shop. She told police that Fettes brought her car in for body work. Hanrahan said she became suspicious because Fettes was acting strange and insisted on paying for the damage without reporting the accident to her insurer.
Hanrahan said she's glad Fettes was not acting like herself because her vehicle may have gotten fixed.
"Had she come in there and not acted in that way? She probably would have gotten away with it," said Hanrahan from her home in Middleburg Heights.
Officers towed the car from the body shop the next day. Police said Fettes had no criminal history and a clean driving record. She was arrested a short time after the crash, but was released to family due to medical reasons.
During a news conference in December, Kho's teen sister, Callie, said the whole situation is still unreal to her, but she said she's glad justice is still being served.
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