Witness accounts, video and a damaged Hyundai pushed a fast-moving Winter Haven investigation toward an arrest.
WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — Detectives in Polk County say a chain of witness statements, surveillance video and a damaged SUV led them to a Winter Haven woman accused of fleeing after a crash near a church that killed an 8-year-old boy and seriously injured a 10-year-old.
The case drew attention not only because of the child death, but because investigators said the driver disappeared from the scene and then gave conflicting explanations the next day as deputies closed in on the vehicle. What began as a search for a dark SUV after a nighttime collision near Faith Baptist Church quickly became a wider inquiry involving interviews, forensic warrants and a second law-enforcement response at a Lake Wales property where the Hyundai was found. By Friday, authorities had identified Victoria Johnson as the driver they believe was behind the wheel when the boys were struck on Crystal Beach Road.
According to the sheriff’s office, the crash happened at 8:25 p.m. Wednesday as children were leaving a church function near the intersection of Crystal Beach Road and Winter Lake Road. Investigators said the boys had crossed to the west side of the road and were called back. After a southbound truck passed, they started across and were hit by a vehicle traveling north. The younger child died, while the older boy was left with severe injuries that included a broken arm, a broken femur and a compound skull fracture. He was hospitalized in critical but stable condition. The vehicle that struck them kept going. The road outside the church became a traffic homicide scene, and detectives began piecing together what they could from witnesses, scattered debris and nearby cameras before they even knew the driver’s name.
Witnesses gave deputies a narrow but useful description: a dark-colored, mid-sized SUV. At the scene, investigators recovered two small plastic pieces that they said were consistent with the lower portion of a vehicle. Surveillance footage from near the intersection showed a southbound truck and then another vehicle moving north, the sheriff’s office said. Investigators reported that the recording captured noises consistent with an impact, after which the northbound vehicle turned east onto Winter Lake Road. That detail helped build the timeline and direction of travel. Less than a day later, Johnson called authorities to report her dark blue 2009 Hyundai Santa Fe stolen, deputies said. When they went to interview her, she was not where they expected. Deputies found her near Spirit Lake and Thornhill roads, and the interview that followed, according to investigators, changed shape several times as she moved from saying the SUV was stolen to saying she had loaned it out to finally admitting she had driven it the night before and thought she might have hit someone.
The affidavit excerpt released by the sheriff’s office added details that placed Johnson close to the crash both in time and geography. Investigators said she told them she was driving in loops around the area near her home for roughly 20 minutes or more, and they noted that the crash site was about 2.8 miles away. Johnson also said her driver’s license was suspended because of a DUI case, according to the affidavit, and she acknowledged she was not supposed to be driving. Detectives said she admitted using methamphetamine before driving that night. She told investigators she later met Charles Cory Franklin Stewart at a Circle K on Spirit Lake Road, went with him to a house where they used methamphetamine and eventually let him take the Hyundai. Deputies said Johnson told them she asked Stewart to get rid of the SUV and believed it might end up at the bottom of a lake, a statement investigators used to support the evidence-tampering count.
Instead, deputies said, the Hyundai was seen on State Road 60 in Lake Wales while Johnson was being transported for questioning. Stewart was driving and Mya Bass was in the vehicle, investigators said. Deputies followed the SUV to a residence on SR 60, where both Stewart and Bass ran inside and refused commands to come out before they were arrested on resisting charges. A preliminary inspection of the Hyundai found visible damage, missing parts and possible biological material consistent with a pedestrian strike, according to the sheriff’s office. Detectives then obtained search warrants for the SUV and Johnson’s cellphone. Stewart later told investigators that he met Johnson on March 11 at the Circle K and that she was sitting in the driver’s seat when he arrived. Authorities said that statement contradicted the idea that someone else had taken the vehicle before the crash. The sheriff’s office has not publicly released additional forensic findings, and it has not said whether any independent toxicology results were available Friday.
The legal case now turns on what prosecutors can prove about the collision, the flight from the scene and the steps that followed. Johnson was booked on charges of leaving the scene of a crash with death, leaving the scene of a crash with serious bodily injury, tampering with evidence, driving without a license causing death and giving false information to law enforcement. Authorities said she was due in first appearance court March 13. They also disclosed a prior DUI arrest by Winter Haven police in November 2025. Beyond Johnson’s case, the investigation briefly widened when deputies at the Lake Wales address called in the Environmental Crimes Unit after seeing trash, tires and other waste on the property. That separate inquiry led to arrests of six residents on landfill and burn-related allegations, though those allegations are not part of the fatal crash prosecution.
The investigation’s emotional center, though, remained the church-side roadway where two boys were struck after an evening gathering. Detectives described a methodical search that relied on fragments, footage and interviews rather than a driver who came forward. Every development after that, from the stolen-car report to the recovery of the Hyundai, sharpened the case around one question: who was driving when the SUV hit the children and kept going? By Friday, law enforcement said they had an answer, but some details remained unsettled in public view, including the vehicle’s exact speed, the line of sight at the moment of impact and whether additional charges could be sought after forensic testing is complete. Those are the facts likely to matter as the case moves from a fast arrest to a slower court record.
The investigation was no longer a search for an unknown SUV by Friday afternoon. It had become a felony case headed into court, with forensic work still pending and the surviving child continuing treatment after the crash on March 11.
Author note: Last updated March 13, 2026.