The driver was charged; the vehicle has not been found.

There is a road in Vaughan where the sidewalk ends and the grass grows tall, where the lighting is poor and the evening comes early in October. A woman walking home from the bus, a live-in caregiver, a suitcase in her hand. These are the ordinary details of a life in motion, the kind that should end with a front door opening and a light switching on.

Instead, on October 4, the woman was struck by a vehicle traveling northbound on Pine Valley Drive from Major Mackenzie Drive. The driver did not stop. Her body remained undiscovered for two days, until a passerby noticed a suitcase in the grass and looked closer .

On Friday, October 16, York Regional Police charged Kamel Hazime, 41, of Vaughan, with failure to stop after an accident resulting in death . The victim was a 60-year-old woman from Richmond Hill, a live-in caregiver whose name has not been released . The suspect vehicle—a white, 2020 to 2022 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van—has not been found .

The investigation moved with the help of the public. Security footage showed the van in the area on the day of the incident, and debris found at the scene was confirmed to belong to a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter . Police released images and appealed for information. The arrest followed.

But the vehicle remains outstanding, and police have issued a careful warning: anyone who assists in concealing, repairing, or altering the van may be committing a criminal offence. "This includes anyone who performs or arranges body work, paint work or mechanical repairs intended to conceal damage caused in this collision," York police said in a release . The message is directed at body shops, mechanics, and anyone who might be asked to do a quiet favor for a damaged white van.

The location of the collision has drawn attention of its own. Pine Valley Drive, north of Major Mackenzie, is a stretch with no sidewalk and poor lighting, a road not built for pedestrians but used by them nonetheless . The woman had gotten off a bus and was walking north when she was struck. Whether the driver saw her, whether the darkness or the road's design played a role, are questions that may be answered in court.

Hazime was arrested on Friday and charged. He has not been convicted, and the legal process is only beginning. Police have asked anyone with information about the van, or anyone who has been asked to repair it, to come forward .

Two days passed before the woman was found. That interval—forty-eight hours of a suitcase in the grass, of a body unseen—is its own quiet indictment. The road is still there, and the grass still grows tall. What remains is the work of finding the vehicle, of answering the questions the arrest has not yet resolved, and of remembering a woman whose journey home ended in a place where no one was looking.

The imagery accompanying this report is generated by AI.

Sources: The Canadian Press, York Regional Police, CBC News, Toronto Star, Toronto Sun