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Man walking dogs struck, killed by car during hit-and-run in Kannapolis

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. — Police have arrested and charged a woman they said hit and killed a man who was walking his dogs early Monday morning in Kannapolis before driving off.

Police were called around 1:40 a.m. to a crash scene at the intersection of Bethpage Road and Leonard Avenue. Officers found 48-year-old Santiago Esteban and his two dogs dead.

>> We first updated WSOCTV news app users with a notification just after 11 a.m. Monday that police arrested the driver involved. Download the WSOCTV news app for your smartphone and get updates on breaking stories as they come in.

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Investigators determined Esteban was walking his dogs when he and the animals were hit by a car and killed.

We learned Esteban and his wife, Mary Coe, were to celebrate their 11th wedding anniversary this week.

>> WATCH the video above as Santiago Esteban's wife, Mary Coe, describes her husband and the loss she's feeling. 

“Last night we had a rainstorm and a lot of thunder and lightning, so he waited a little bit later to go take the dogs for a walk,” Coe said. “The last thing I told him, I said there’s drug addicts and the weekend drunks. It wasn’t three minutes later I heard… and that was it. He was dead and she kept going. … She didn’t stop.”

A witness told police they saw a sedan driving away from the scene.

Detectives were led to the home Lisa Jones, where police arrested her without incident. Jones, 22, was charged with felony hit and run, misdemeanor hit and run and driving left of center.

Coe said, in her view, Jones deserves to spend the rest of her life behind bars for what she did.

No other details have been released and the investigation is ongoing.

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