Surveillance footage, a missing bumper, and DNA evidence helped investigators identify a suspect nearly a year later.
BROOKSVILLE, Fla. — Investigators said a damaged Dodge Durango, traffic camera footage and blood evidence led them to arrest a Brooksville woman in the 2025 death of Jacob Mull, who was struck before dawn and left on a Hernando County roadway.
The case drew attention because of the long gap between the crash and the arrest, and because troopers say the driver continued on to a fast-food job instead of reporting what happened. Florida Highway Patrol arrested 45-year-old Kerri Walden in February 2026 and accused her of leaving the scene of a crash involving death. Mull, 45, died after he was hit near the intersection of Wiscon Road and California Street on April 15, 2025. Investigators said the case was pieced together through physical damage to the SUV, surveillance images and later forensic testing.
Troopers said the crash happened shortly after 4 a.m. Walden was stopped at a red light at Wiscon Road and California Street in Brooksville, according to the arrest report described in public coverage. When the light turned green, she drove west and hit Mull. Public accounts have differed on one point: some reports said Mull was crossing the street, while another said he was lying in the westbound lane when he was struck. Investigators have not publicly explained that difference in the early reporting, but they were consistent on the larger picture. They said Mull was dragged after the impact and that Walden drove away. One report put the dragging distance at 87 feet. Another report, based on the same Florida Highway Patrol arrest information, said about 37 feet after the initial impact. Whatever the exact measurement, investigators said the collision caused fatal injuries and left a major debris and evidence trail behind. Mull was later found dead in the road.
What came next became central to the investigation. Troopers said they used traffic cameras to follow the path of the Durango from the crash scene to a McDonald’s where Walden worked. The restaurant was about 3 miles away from the intersection, according to reports. When authorities located the SUV, they said, the front bumper was missing and blood was present underneath the vehicle. Investigators also said Walden stopped at a 7-Eleven after the crash and moved the detached bumper into the back seat before continuing on. After she was read her rights, Walden told investigators she knew she had hit something but believed it might have been a deer, according to the arrest report. Troopers said she never contacted emergency dispatchers and never alerted police. Later DNA testing matched blood on the SUV to Mull, investigators said. In a case with no immediate arrest at the scene, that mix of surveillance, damage and biological evidence appears to have formed the backbone of the charge.
The background to the arrest helps explain why it resonated in Brooksville. Early local reporting from the morning of April 15, 2025 described a fatal hit-and-run involving an unknown older-model Dodge Durango and identified the victim only as a 45-year-old Brooksville man. The crash happened in the dark and the suspect vehicle had already left, leaving investigators to rely on roadway evidence and later leads. Over time, Mull was publicly identified, and family members began sharing memories of him online. A fundraiser created in his honor said he died at about 4:20 a.m. and left behind three children and two grandchildren. Supporters remembered him as someone who would help others whenever he could. That personal account added context to the official case timeline, which otherwise focused on lane position, vehicle travel and post-crash conduct. In stories like this, the legal record tells one part of the event; the victim’s family tells another.
Walden was arrested on Feb. 23, 2026 and booked into the Hernando County Jail. News reports said she faced a charge of hit-and-run while causing death, also described as leaving the scene of a fatal crash. One report said she was held on a $5,000 bond as of the following morning. Another said she later bonded out after the amount was lowered to $2,500. A follow-up report also said she was expected in court on April 2, though prosecutors had not publicly outlined any broader charging plan in the initial accounts. The next formal steps are likely to include routine court appearances, evidence disclosures and possible motions over what statements and forensic findings jurors would eventually hear. Important questions remain unanswered in public: whether there were witnesses close enough to see the impact, whether phone or work records will be used to tighten the timeline, and whether the defense will argue that Walden did not know she had struck a person.
The strongest emotion in the public reaction has come from the contrast between the two tracks of the story. On one side are the investigative details: measurements, intersections, camera views, missing car parts and a DNA match. On the other is the fact that Mull never made it home. Family members described him not as a case number but as a father of three and grandfather of two. Troopers, meanwhile, highlighted the choices after the crash. “She knew she hit something,” investigators said in essence through the arrest account, but they contend she never stopped to find out what it was and never asked anyone to send help. That allegation is likely to sit at the heart of the prosecution, because the charge is not simply about a fatal collision. It is about what police say the driver did not do after it happened.
The case has moved from a cold roadside investigation to an active prosecution, with court proceedings expected to shape what evidence is challenged and what details become clearer in the months ahead.
Author note: Last updated March 22, 2026.