Teen Arrested In Fatal Highway Hit-And-Run In SMC: CHP

EAST PALO ALTO, CA — An 18-year-old man was arrested hours after a hit-and-run crash killed a Redwood City motorcyclist on Highway 101 in East Palo Alto Thursday morning, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Irma Elizabeth Oxlaj Vargas, 38, was riding south on Highway 101 around 6 a.m. when a car struck her motorcycle near the University Avenue on-ramp and continued driving, CHP said.

Officers found Vargas in the transition lane from University Avenue to southbound Highway 101. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

The crash shut down multiple southbound lanes for several hours during the morning commute.

Investigators found a license plate at the crash scene that they traced to an Acura TL, CHP said. The car was later found abandoned in Sunnyvale.

The investigation led authorities to Julian Adame Jr., 18, of Kingsburg, who CHP said had traveled to Cutler in Tulare County after the crash.

Members of a CHP investigative unit found and arrested Adame around 12:15 p.m., just over six hours after the collision, police said.

Adame was booked into San Mateo County Jail on suspicion of felony hit-and-run and vehicular manslaughter, police said.