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Background: Footage captures a black Dodge Challenger T-boning a white Chevrolet Sonic and causing it to spin out (WMC/YouTube/Central Exchange). Inset top: Julio Hernandez (Shelby County Sheriff”s Office). Inset bottom: Ava Christopher (Memorial Park Funeral and Cemetary).
A Tennessee man has confessed to causing the tragic death of a cherished college student after crashing a stolen vehicle into her car at a red light.
Julio Hernandez, aged 21, admitted guilt on Tuesday to multiple charges, including reckless vehicular homicide, fleeing the scene of a fatal accident, and operating a vehicle without a license, as detailed by court records and the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office. These charges are linked to a fatal accident in the summer of 2023 that claimed the life of 20-year-old Ava Christopher.
The collision occurred on July 25, 2023, shortly after midnight. According to an arrest affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime, Christopher was driving her white Chevrolet Sonic east on Central Avenue in Memphis. Concurrently, Hernandez, behind the wheel of a Dodge Challenger, was heading south on Cooper Street when he “ignored the red light” at the intersection.
Video footage obtained by local NBC affiliate WMC shows a white car traveling at a relatively low rate of speed toward a green light when suddenly a black car flies into the frame and strikes the white vehicle. Both vehicles spin, with the white vehicle coming to a stop when the front of it collides with a nearby pole.
The affidavit reports that Hernandez was speeding at 88 mph in a 40 mph zone when the collision happened.
Authorities revealed that Hernandez had a passenger in his car during the crash, and both fled the scene “immediately” afterward. Despite efforts by first responders who transported Christopher to a nearby hospital, she was declared dead.
As loved ones mourned Christopher — who was about to enter her junior year at the University of Memphis, per her obituary — authorities had not yet charged someone in her death. But they continued to investigate.
A witness identified Hernandez to police as the man seen on a video walking away from the crash, according to the affidavit. Investigators had also learned that the Dodge Challenger involved in the crash was reported stolen out of Southaven, Mississippi, prior to the collision.
Authorities said that the original rims from the Dodge Challenger were missing from the vehicle at the time of the crash, and on Nov. 16, 2023, an officer spotted Hernandez driving another vehicle with those rims on it. He was detained and “admitted to driving the stolen Dodge Challenger at the time of the fatal crash,” the court document reads.
Memphis Police Sergeant Marcus Mosby, who detained Hernandez and was the lead investigator in the case, testified that Hernandez “gave me a full confession,” WMC reported.
“He walked away, he said he was afraid cause he thought the witness who witnessed the crash had a gun. He said that he was very apologetic. He admitted to everything,” Mosby said.
Hernandez was released on bond not long after his arrest in November 2023, but he was indicted on charges, including reckless vehicular homicide, in February 2025.
The defendant is scheduled to be sentenced on March 25.
Christopher was further remembered in her obituary as someone who “LOVED BIG” and “adored her friends, family, horse ‘Ozzi’, calico kitty ‘Jazzy’ as well as all of our family pets.”
“Ava loved everyone from all walks of life,” the tribute also said. “She believed in acceptance, tolerance and love. She packed more love, humor, knowledge, moxie, and experiences into her short 20 years than many of us do in a much longer lifetime.”