A fatal hit-and-run, a burned-out van and now an arrest in a St. Pete crash

A woman has been arrested in connection with a traffic crash that killed a pedestrian on Fourth Street North in St. Petersburg earlier this summer, police said.

Rosalyn Fuller, 58, was arrested Sunday on a warrant. She is accused of leaving the scene of a fatal crash and tampering with evidence. The tampering charge stems from the fact that the van Fuller was driving on the day of the crash was found abandoned and engulfed in flames hours later, according to an affidavit.

According to St. Petersburg police, Fuller was driving a Honda Odyssey minivan on June 25 when she struck and killed 62-year-old Kathy Repke, who was crossing the 6900 block of Fourth Street at a crosswalk with her flashing lights on.

Police found a piece of grille broken off a Honda Odyssey at the scene of the accident. About three hours later, police were called to the scene of a van fire at the corner of 110th Avenue and 28th Street North. There they found a Honda Odyssey missing a piece of grille that matched the one found at the scene of the accident, the affidavit states.

Police determined the van was registered to Fuller and attempted to locate her, but were initially unsuccessful. A press release said they wanted to speak with her in connection with the accident.

Fuller contacted police later that day. She told them she had parked her van in another part of town the night of the accident, then slept for 16 hours and didn't know what had happened to the van or her keys in the meantime. However, police obtained a search warrant for her cellphone records, which showed she was in the area at the time of the accident and not in the part of town where Fuller had claimed to be, the affidavit states.

Information from the phone also showed it was in the area where the van was found burning later that night, the affidavit said.

Police obtained a warrant for Fuller's arrest last week and arrested her on Sunday. She was released from the Pinellas County Jail after posting $55,000 bail, records show.

A lawyer for her had not been appointed as of Tuesday morning and no motion had been filed on her behalf.