The motives for Lakeisha Holloway's Las Vegas crash has authorities baffled: What made the 24-year-old drive on the Las Vegas Strip sidewalk - not once, but twice - plowing into 37 people and killing one? While Holloway had a rough upbringing, according to The New York Times, her life seemed to have turned around a few years ago, claim friends and teachers who painted her as a caring mother and award-winning high school graduate.
The people from Holloway's past paint a different picture of her. Homeless as a high school freshman, Holloway's mother had an alcohol abuse problem, but Holloway overcame that adversity and eventually graduated from high school earning an award for being a role model at the Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center, which was a program for at-risk youth.
"It's hard to believe that Lakeisha did this, she was such a great kid while she was a part of our program," said a member of the center's staff in a statement.
"Today I'm not the same scared girl I used to be. I'm a mature young woman that has broken many generational cycles that those before me hadn't," Holloway said in a promotional video by the non-profit school, according to BBC.
Improving Life Chances from PortlandOIC+Rosemary Anderson HS on Vimeo.
Holloway has been charged with murder, child abuse and felony hit-and-run and is held without bail at the Las Vegas jail where she has been placed on suicide watch. Holloway's daughter was in the back seat as she drove her Oldsmobile down a tourist-laden sidewalk killing Jessica Valenzuela, 32, from Buckeye, Ariz. and injuring pedestrians.
A few blocks later, Holloway pulled over and asked a parking attendant to call 911. When speaking to authorities, "Holloway was stoic when police arrived, showed no resistance and spoke coherently about what happened," according to CBS News.
"I'm appalled at the callousness of this defendant's conduct and what appears to be an intentional act," said Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson.
Las Vegas police said they believe Holloway drove into the crowds on purpose, after they reviewed video surveillance footage. Police also said they believe Holloway was homeless, out of money and on her way to Texas to see the father of her daughter, although they had split up.
The police report states Holloway "described a stressful period today where she was trying to rest/sleep inside her vehicle with her daughter but kept getting run off by security of the properties she stopped at."
"She ended up on the Strip, 'a place she did not want to be,'" the report quoted her as saying, according to CBS News. "She would not explain why she drove onto the sidewalk but remembered a body bouncing off her windshield, breaking it."
Joseph Abood, one of Holloway's lawyers, said she plans to plead not guilty to the charges when she appears in court on Wednesday.
