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‘You Destroyed My Life': Mother Pleads for Justice After 20-Year-Old Son Struck, Killed

The mother of a 20-year-old Riverside County man made a tearful public plea Monday to find the driver who struck her son and left him for dead, never stopping to help.

"My heart is broken," the victim's mother, Lidia Cantu said. "I need my son... I need my son."

Cantu is feeling a deep heartache that only parents who have lost a child will understand.

Her son, Jonathan Santos, just 20 years old, was killed by a hit-and-run driver Saturday at 11:45 p.m., Corona police said.

Cantu stood at Avenida Del Vista with other family members, mourning the death of her oldest son.

"This person -- [if] he sees me right now -- you destroyed my life," she said on an NBC4 broadcast report. "It's my son."

Saturday night just before midnight, Santos was crossing the road when investigators say a vehicle traveling northbound struck him and took off.

The driver did not stop to help him.

"They left my brother there alone to die without even turning their heads," said the victim's brother Giovanni Santos.

Investigators said unless the driver was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, if the driver had stopped, called 911 and remained at the scene, he or she would most likely not have been in any trouble because Santos was not in a crosswalk.

Police say the driver and a passenger abandoned the vehicle at a Walmart parking lot about a quarter of a mile from the crash.

The victim's brother said his family deserves justice and he has a strong message for the driver.

"Karma will hit you. I can tell you that much," Giovanni said.

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