Simone WilsonLast Friday night, 24-year-old Melissa Del-Aguila went out in skinny jeans and heels to Q's Billiards, a sports bar along Wilshire Boulevard popular with UCLA students. According to the Santa Monica Police Department, Del-Aguila was celebrating her recent graduation from the university.
But for some reason, the new grad left an hour before closing — at 1 a.m. — and made her way west toward Santa Monica (though she's reported as living in West L.A.). When Del-Aguila reached 24th Street at 2:30 a.m., witnesses tell police that she ran out onto Wilshire, where a Bell taxi cab was heading west in the fast lane.
When she was hit, Del-Aguila had walked 1.3 miles in 5-inch heels:
The young woman died soon after at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. A police sergeant tells the Santa Monica Daily Press that Del-Aguila “was out with some friends … frequenting some local bars, and it appears she may have been trying to hail a taxi.” From the police report:
According to several witnesses, Del-Aguila was last seen at Q's around 1:00 am. Del-Aguila had no mode of transportation and investigators are trying to determine how she made her way to Santa Monica.She is described as a female Hispanic, 4'10″ tall, 95 pounds, long straight brown hair, brown eyes, wearing a light floral colored blouse, dark blue skinny jeans and white shoes with 5″ heels at the time of the accident.
The KTLA story, which misreports the distance from Q's Billiards to the accident scene as 13 miles, says that Del-Aguila's heels have led “police to believe that someone drove her to that location. Police also say they're trying to determine if something caused the woman to flee the car.”
A friend of Del-Aguila's, who says the victim was nicknamed “penske,” blogged memorial yesterday:
“Too young, too beautiful, too soon. … You were one of the smartest and dedicated party girls i knew, a beautiful balance and a force to reckon with.”
Another friend Tweeted on Sunday:
Did you know Del-Aguila, or witness her fatal accident? Please share below. Anyone with any additional information about the circumstances leading up to the crash is also urged to contact Detective Chris Dawson at (310) 458-8954 or Sergeant Jeff Wiles at (310 )458-8950.
[@simone_electra/swilson@laweekly.com]
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