Background: Footage captures a black Dodge Challenger T-boning a white Chevrolet Sonic and causing it to spin out (WMC/YouTube/Central Exchange). Inset top: Julio Hernandez (Shelby County Sheriff”s Office). Inset bottom: Ava Christopher (Memorial Park Funeral and Cemetary).
A Tennessee man has admitted to causing the death of a cherished college student after driving a stolen car through a red light, resulting in a fatal collision.
Julio Hernandez, 21, entered a guilty plea on Tuesday to multiple charges, including reckless vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, and driving without a license. This plea, confirmed by court documents and the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office, is linked to a tragic crash in summer 2023 that claimed the life of 20-year-old Ava Christopher.
The accident occurred just after midnight on July 25, 2023. According to an arrest affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime, Christopher was driving a white Chevrolet Sonic east on Central Avenue in Memphis. Simultaneously, Hernandez, driving a Dodge Challenger south on Cooper Street, ignored a red light at an intersection, leading to the collision.
Video footage obtained by local NBC affiliate WMC shows a white car traveling at a relatively low rate of speed toward a green light when suddenly a black car flies into the frame and strikes the white vehicle. Both vehicles spin, with the white vehicle coming to a stop when the front of it collides with a nearby pole.
The affidavit reveals Hernandez was traveling at 88 mph in a 40 mph zone at the time of impact.
Authorities reported that Hernandez was accompanied by a passenger during the crash, and both fled the scene immediately. Emergency responders arrived swiftly, transporting Christopher to a nearby hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.
Christopher, who was on the brink of starting her junior year at the University of Memphis, is remembered fondly by her family and friends, as noted in her obituary. Following her death, authorities persisted in their investigation before bringing charges against Hernandez.
A witness identified Hernandez to police as the man seen on a video walking away from the crash, according to the affidavit. Investigators had also learned that the Dodge Challenger involved in the crash was reported stolen out of Southaven, Mississippi, prior to the collision.
Authorities said that the original rims from the Dodge Challenger were missing from the vehicle at the time of the crash, and on Nov. 16, 2023, an officer spotted Hernandez driving another vehicle with those rims on it. He was detained and “admitted to driving the stolen Dodge Challenger at the time of the fatal crash,” the court document reads.
Memphis Police Sergeant Marcus Mosby, who detained Hernandez and was the lead investigator in the case, testified that Hernandez “gave me a full confession,” WMC reported.
“He walked away, he said he was afraid cause he thought the witness who witnessed the crash had a gun. He said that he was very apologetic. He admitted to everything,” Mosby said.
Hernandez was released on bond not long after his arrest in November 2023, but he was indicted on charges, including reckless vehicular homicide, in February 2025.
The defendant is scheduled to be sentenced on March 25.
Christopher was further remembered in her obituary as someone who “LOVED BIG” and “adored her friends, family, horse ‘Ozzi’, calico kitty ‘Jazzy’ as well as all of our family pets.”
“Ava loved everyone from all walks of life,” the tribute also said. “She believed in acceptance, tolerance and love. She packed more love, humor, knowledge, moxie, and experiences into her short 20 years than many of us do in a much longer lifetime.”
