INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, Fla. — More than a year after 15-year-old Haylee Hughes was struck and killed while walking to her school bus stop, her mother's relentless push for answers is finally forcing change.
"The conditions of these roads, with the poor lighting, and not exactly an easy route to get to the [bus] stop," Hughes' mother, Jericho Freeman, said.
WATCH BELOW: Mother's grief sparks change in Indian River County neighborhood
Freeman spoke these words while surrounded by neighbors laying flowers at the spot where her daughter was struck by a driver.
The Florida Highway Patrol said Hughes was hit by a classmate driving to school early in the morning on April 12, 2024.
Investigators said the teen driver believed he had hit a mailbox and left the scene. He later pleaded no contest to leaving the scene of a crash.
He was sentenced to probation, community service and a six-month license suspension.
Freeman said she was robbed of justice, but she's found another path to peace: fighting to protect other children who still walk these unlit roads in the dark.
"Just like a small flower on the side of the road, our children can be easily missed by distracted drivers," Freeman said to those who gathered.
According to FHP's traffic homicide report, dark lighting was a factor in the collision that killed Hughes. Investigators said the teen didn't see Hughes, and the nearest street light was "inoperable."
Data from the county that WPTV obtained shows there are currently 102 street lights throughout the 3.4 square-mile neighborhood, averaging about 24 homes per street light.
"The lighting is insufficient for pedestrians to be walking on the side of the road before sunrise, let alone children," Freeman told investigative reporter Kate Hussey.
Data WPTV obtained in a public records request shows 679 Indian River County School District students live in Vero Lake Estates and take the bus.
Yet many of the neighborhood's roads still lack basic safety infrastructure — no sidewalks, no curbs and limited street lighting.
Many of those students walk alone, before sunrise, on narrow paved shoulders or directly in the street.
"We don't take the dog out for a walk before the sun's up or anything like that, because it's, it's hard to see," mother Mandy Prang said.
Prang was one of dozens of parents WPTV spoke to who had similar concerns: fears their children would be hit as Haylee was.
"And there's really nowhere to be," Prang said. "You know, you've got to be, like, way out there if you want to make sure that you're properly out of the way."
"There's no curb stopping traffic from veering off the road," added Freeman.
Records WPTV pulled from the Indian River County Sheriff's Office show there have been at least 68 crashes in the neighborhood over the past five years. At least five of those injured or killed children. At least three involved pedestrians who were hit while walking on the side of the road, and that doesn't include near misses.
"We are trying to address some of their concerns," County Commission Chair Susan Adams said.
WPTV presented our findings to Adams, who acknowledged the issue, stating that the infrastructure has not kept pace with the area's growth.
Vero Lake Estates, built in the 1950s, now houses more than 2,500 homes.
"You've seen that become more populous, more houses being built there," Adams said. "It's just what you see across the Treasure Coast."
After months of pressure, the county said it's taking action.
Planned improvements include:
- Adding sidewalks to three major stretches of road, including where Haylee was killed
- Installing 35 new street lights, prioritizing bus stops
- Increasing sheriff patrols to help control speeding
The changes will be funded through sales tax revenue and the county's Municipal Service Taxing Unit, minimizing direct cost to taxpayers.
Freeman hopes the loss of her daughter leads to lasting change. That's why she invited the community to join her to lay flowers not just for Haylee, but at bus stops throughout the neighborhood.
"It hits home," one woman told her through tears. "And I have a daughter of my own, too."
The grief is still raw because grief is the cost of love, even grief shared. But Freeman said that love is what fuels her now. Because when that love is ripped away, sometimes the only way to survive it is to fight for the living.
"I'm going to do this in Haylee's name, so that there are no more children out here that have their story cut short and their life cut short," Freeman said.
The Indian River County Commission has not yet set a start date for the sidewalk and lighting improvements, but Adams said she hopes the project will be funded in the next budget cycle.