Charges Dropped in Crash that Claimed Lives of Jorge and Nancy Salinas; Attorney Says Defendant Was Not Involved

Note: Alisa Lee Montalvo, 47, was booked on nine charges related to the I-4 crash late Friday night. An article will follow shortly.

The State Attorney’s Office today filed notice that it would not file charges against Lindsey Brooke Isaacs, the 23-year-old Palm Coast resident arrested by the Florida Highway Patrol and charged with eight felony counts, including three counts of vehicular homicide in connection with the hit-and-run crash on I-4 last October that killed Deputy Flagler County Administrator Jorge Salinas, 59, his wife Nancy, 60, and Joaquin Deno, 54.  

Isaacs had not been formally charged, nor should she have been, her attorney, Marc Dwyer of Flagler Beach, said. “We knew this was going to happen. It should not have taken so long,” Dwyer said. 

“Someone is responsible for what happened. I think there’s enough evidence to probably find that person,” Dwyer said. Asked if that meant he considers Isaacs not to be responsible for the crash, he said: “You are 100 percent correct.” 

Today’s development stunned local officials.

“It is heartbreaking and unfortunate that there may never be justice for the victims of this tragic accident,” County Commission Chair Leann Pennington, who had worked closely with Salinas and spoke of him as a friend, said. “The Salinas family, along with the other families impacted, deserve accountability and peace. We will never forget Jorge Salinas, the contributions he made to our county, or the kind of person he was. He was deeply respected, genuinely cared about this community, and his loss will be felt for a very long time.”

“We grieve with the Salinas family, we grieve with their great loss, and that is a shame,” Dwyer said, but added that “it’s unfortunate that we added insult to injury, because now we have another harmed family, my client. But certainly, we empathize, we sympathize, we grieve with the family and hopefully they find who’s responsible.” 

The Salinases were driving back from Disney the night of Oct. 4, driving east on I-4 when, according to the Florida Highway Patrol’s arrest affidavit, a Dodge Durango struck a Ford Focus, triggering a deadly chain reaction that involved Deno, who was on his motorcycle, the Salinases’ vehicle, and a third vehicle. The Durango continued on.

The FHP arrest affidavit had established that Isaacs had been captured on surveillance video at 8:08 p.m. the night of the crash at the Vape Up Café in Davenport, and again at 8:20, when she exited the store and was seen getting into the driver’s seat of the Durango. “Less than two hours later, the same Dodge Durango was involved in this crash,” FHP alleged. A license plate reader recorded the Durango three miles west of the crash site, traveling east, at 9:51 p.m. The crash took place at 9:53 p.m. 

FHP’s affidavit cites a witness’ description of the Durango traveling at 100 to 115 mph, and hitting the motorcyclist. “There was no room for imagination,” the witness, Justin Leelan Lopesilvero, told FHP, “the Durango went straight into the side of the bikers, then kept going, almost hit the guard rail in the middle, and swerved back across two lanes, almost losing control after hitting the biker”. 

In a motion to quash Isaacs’s arrest warrant, Dwyer argued that “the arrest warrant affidavit fails to establish a critical element common to every charged offense: that Ms. Isaacs was the driver of the vehicle at the time of the crash. Instead, the affidavit relies on ownership of the vehicle, generalized witness observations, and the expectation that future forensic testing may identify the operator. That is insufficient as a matter of law.”

Dwyer’s motion to quash noted that “The State alleges that when they found the Dodge Durango, it had damage to the left side consistent with the collision with the Ford Focus. There is no mention in the investigation of damage to the right side of the Dodge Durango consistent with impacting the Suzuki.” 

Based on license plate reader data, it was traced to the Integra Woods Apartments in Palm Coast, where Flagler County Sheriff’s deputies examined it and determined that the damage on the left side of the vehicle matched damage on the Ford Focus it allegedly struck on I-4. 

The State Attorney’s Office does not explain why it elected not to pursue charges. It released the Durango back to Isaacs as well as her passport. It ordered all other evidence held. 

Dwyer had filed a replevin civil suit against the Florida Highway Patrol in February, charging that the Durango was “wrongfully detained” for four months even though no charges had been filed. FHP filed the charges on April 17 and moved to dismiss the civil suit. A judge granted the motion and ordered the civil case dismissed on May 8, enabling FHP to retain custody of the Durango. 

In October, Isaacs had told FHP that “I didn’t hit anything,” that she hadn’t gone anywhere that night after 6:30 p.m., and that someone must have stolen her car. She acknowledged being in Davenport earlier. 

Dwyer said the State Attorney’s office “did the right thing before making things even worse.” He said he would talk further about the case at a later date. “I’m very happy obviously for my client and I plan on having a forum where we can talk further about it,”  he said.