Mother, Son Charged In Fatal St. Paul Hit-&-Run

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A mother and son now face charges in connection with a hit-and-run in St. Paul that left a bicyclist dead.

According to the Ramsey County Attorney's Office, 28-year-old Dustin Joel Hegner Royce faces two counts of criminal vehicular homicide, while 47-year-old Abbey Rose Hegner is charged with two counts of aiding an offender.

Fifty-two-year-old Jose Hernandez Solano, a dishwasher at Brasa Rotissereie, was riding home from work Nov. 26 when an SUV driver hit him at West Seventh Street and Grand Avenue and drove away.

The crash fractured Solano's spine and he was left with chest cavity hemorrhaging and head trauma. He was on life support for a week and a half at Regions Hospital before he died Dec. 7.

Surveillance video led police to Royce and Hegner, who were arrested in December. Hegner, who is the owner of the suspect vehicle, told police she sold it in November.

Video from days after Hegner claimed to have sold the vehicle shows someone matching Royce's physical traits driving it, according to the criminal complaint.

Royce's employer told investigators he saw the suspect vehicle at his landscaping company in the days after the crash. Royce told his boss he hit a deer with the vehicle, the complaint states.

The suspect vehicle has still not been found.

Both Hegner and Royce deny any involvement in the crash. Prosecutors will seek bail of $500,000 for Royce and $50,000 for Hegner.