A man has been arrested more than three years after he allegedly crashed a stolen backhoe into a vehicle on I-35 East in Dallas, killing a woman.

Luis A. Lopez-Guerrero, 24, was arrested earlier this month on charges of murder and theft of property valued from $30,000 to $150,000, according to authorities. He already was in custody, serving a sentence in Johnson County for a conviction on an unrelated charge.

Authorities said Lopez-Guerrero stole a city-owned backhoe early morning Nov. 27, 2016, and drove into northbound lanes of the interstate. Guerrero, who was traveling south at the time, stuck a northbound vehicle head-on.

A passenger in the second vehicle, Lizbeth Suarez, 20, died from injuries sustained in the wreck, according to authorities. The vehicle’s driver also suffered minor injuries.

Police said the backhoe’s driver, now identified as Lopez-Guerrero, fled the scene on foot.

Lopez-Guerro was arrested on drug charges in Johnson County and began serving a four-year sentence in June 2018, according to online records. Investigators said blood found at the scene of the Dallas wreck matched a DNA profile provided by Lopez-Guerrero after the Johnson County conviction. Lopez-Guerrero remains held in the Dallas County Jail on bonds totaling $250,000. Due to the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic, court proceedings in Dallas County have been drastically scaled back.

Disclaimer: The Accident News article you just read includes information obtained from numerous sources. These sources include, but are not limited to, websites and press releases from law enforcement, the county coroner, fire departments, and other news outlets. While we strive to provide readers with the most accurate information, sometimes the information received is not entirely accurate. For complete details, please refer to an official police report.

The articles published contain sensitive subject matter that may be hard to read by some. We understand that losing a loved one is hard and devastating. Accident News’s decision to share the stories is to help others who may be facing the same situations by providing appropriate resources to the general public.

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