The driver responsible for the fatal crash that took the life of 6-year-old Calli Toller has been identified and arrested. Jaime Santiago Corona, a 33-year-old man with a history of being deported from the United States, is facing charges including misdemeanor death by vehicle and failure to stop at a stop sign.
According to court documents, Corona was driving a 2023 Dodge Ram pickup truck south on Warren Jones Road on Friday, July 3, when he blew through a stop sign at the intersection with County Home Road. His truck slammed into a westbound SUV driven by 35-year-old Kelli Toller, who had her two young children inside.
Little Calli Toller was killed at the scene, and her mother and 4-year-old brother were both seriously injured and rushed to the hospital. Corona was arrested later that Friday afternoon by Highway Patrol troopers and faces charges including careless and reckless driving, as well as driving while license revoked.
Court records note that Corona has no valid operator's license, and a magistrate ordered him held in the Pitt County Detention Center on a $100,000+ secured bond due to his immigration history and flight risk. This incident has sparked outrage as Corona is a known flight risk who has been deported three separate times.
This case is not an isolated incident, but rather a symptom of a larger problem. A pattern of failed removals, catch-and-release policies, and a system that treats deportation orders like suggestions has led to deadly consequences. In the past, similar cases have resulted in lenient treatment for repeat deportees, despite the severity of their crimes.
In a similar case last month, a previously deported illegal alien was charged with triple murder in California. Another case in 2024 involved an illegal alien deported four times, who was charged with killing a mother and son in Colorado. In August 2024, a Democrat prosecutor charged a 16-times deported illegal alien with only misdemeanor traffic violations after he killed a 64-year-old American.
Pitt County itself has seen this pattern before, with ICE lodging detainers against two criminal illegal aliens accused of a savage home invasion in February. Now, once again, ICE is stepping in with a detainer after a repeat deportee killed a little American girl.
