Colorado woman loses husband, dog to hit-and-run driver: "He saw the victims and he left"

It's been a heartbreaking three months for Aurora resident Luz Buitrago after losing her husband and dog to a hit-and-run driver. Now she's asking what kind of human strikes a man and his dog, looks at them lying on the ground and then drives away?

"We had so many plans. We had plans to be retired this year. Everything now is completely different," she said. "I have to figure out how I'm going to continue without them."

Earlier this month would have been her 30th wedding anniversary to 65-year-old Rafael Alberto Buitrago.

"My husband is no longer here. I'm just here, celebrating nothing," she said.

Instead, she's stuck learning how to live on her own, without Rafael and their dog Nova, after both were struck and killed by a car near the intersection of East Wesley Drive and Caspian Circle, which was just around the corner from their home in Aurora.

"It was horrible. I keep that day in my mind every single 24 hours," she said.

An Arapahoe County arrest affidavit said the suspect, 73-year-old Michael Graham-Hyde, had been awake 38 hours when he struck Rafael and Nova on the sidewalk.

Graham-Hyde admitted he got out of his car, saw the bodies on the ground, panicked, and left the scene. He says he turned himself in more than seven hours later, after seeing a Nextdoor post that mentioned a pedestrian died at the scene.

"He saw the victims there, and he left," said Luz.

Luz still wonders if her husband would've been alive today had the suspect called for 911 sooner.

"Seconds in the ER could've made the difference," she said. "Maybe my husband would be in a wheelchair, but he'd stay with me... stay living."

On Monday, Graham-Hyde pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident resulting in injury. A lesser charge of careless driving resulting in death was dismissed as part of the plea deal.

Luz spoke before the court as the suspect pleaded guilty. She says she does not hold any hate for the defendant, though she does hope the judge will hold him accountable when he is sentenced.

"My husband and Nova were my family," she said.

Luz says her husband's death is another example of tragedies on the road that wouldn't happen if the laws were tougher on drivers who commit these incidents.

"This is really sad, and really painful. Every day when I'm driving, I see more memorial signs," she said. "I know that nothing is going to bring my husband back [and] my dog, but I just want to make something [of this] that makes a difference."

A sentencing hearing in this case is scheduled for Sept. 29. The penalty for Graham-Hyde's charge could be a minimum of four years and up to 12.