BARTOW, Fla. — A community is mourning the loss of Bartow High School senior Zachariah Clabough, who was killed in a hit-and-run crash on Wednesday.
On Thursday, Edgardo Rosado-Perez sat in the Hillsborough County Jail as new questions complicated which county has jurisdiction over him. A judge will revisit that issue on Monday.
Deputies say Rosado-Perez hit and killed Zachariah Clabough before dumping the car in his garage and taking off in another.
Meanwhile, his family is speaking out, and we've now learned they have faced a similar tragedy in recent years.
"He was such a sweet kid," Zachariah's older sister Dakota Runyon said. "A lot of people say that about their family and their brothers, but he was just such a sweet kid. He was very loved."
"We're devastated," Runyon said. "We've already been through this once with my dad. And three and a half years later, we're now dealing with the same thing with my brother."
Runyon said their father, Bill Clabough, was killed by a drunk driver while standing outside a gas station.
"I can't believe that we're having to do it all over again. The man just got sentenced back in December for killing my dad. And now it's March and I lose my brother? It's just so hard," she added.
Their family history, she said, magnified the hurt of Rosado-Perez allegedly leaving the scene.
"He didn't sit with my brother. He didn't call 911. He didn't even stop. He just kept going. As if nothing happened," Runyon said. "He killed somebody. And he had his entire life ahead of him. He was just learning who he was, and what he liked, and who he wanted to be."
Now, Runyon said she wishes her brother could only learn just how beloved he was.
"He always had a joke that he would tell us he had no friends at school, that he was a loner. But seeing this community come together and share so much love and want to tell his story and want to share what's going on... I wish he was still here so he would know," she said.
The Bartow community has not just rallied around the family emotionally, but financially as well.
Runyon told us they were not in a position to give Zachariah the funeral he deserved, so they started a GoFundMe page as a last resort.
If you'd like to help support the family, click here to be led to their fundraising page.