SAN ANTONIO – Lenida Spurlock can't come to terms with the hit-and-run death of her sister, Christy Cantu.
According to an arrest affidavit, Cantu was intentionally run over and left to die early Monday by a man she had met at a nightclub.
Luis Diaz-Quijas, 22, was arrested Wednesday on a charge of murder.
"He stole a beautiful life. He took a mother away from seven children and he has to pay for what he's done," Spurlock said. "I mean, it makes us feel angry and makes our hearts cry out in anguish to know that her last few moments were of fear and suffering."
According to an affidavit, surveillance video from a nearby car dealership captured the moment Diaz-Quijas struck Cantu. The video shows Cantu, 40, attempting to hide behind a street sign at San Joaquin Avenue and Culebra Road as a black SUV driving down Culebra Road turns toward her, drives onto the sidewalk and hits the sign and Cantu.
Police said that the video shows the vehicle continuing down San Joaquin Avenue, dragging Cantu under the car.
"She tried to get away. In the video, you can literally see her running for her life. She's running for her life. No one should have to go through that. No one should have to feel that way," Spurlock said. "It's just gruesome and ugly, the way she had to die, and the way he left her there. It's just inhumane how he left her there."
Diaz-Quijas' account of events contrasts with what a witness told police. He told police the incident was an accident. The suspect said he took Cantu home and claims she pulled a kitchen knife on him, so he asked her to leave, the affidavit said.
The suspect told investigators that Cantu left his house but he saw her later at a Valero near his home, where she accused him of trying to kill her, the affidavit said.
Diaz-Quijas claimed as he was driving back to his house, he accidentally hit her but didn't realize it until he felt something under his vehicle, got out of his car to see what he had hit and saw Cantu dead in the road, the affidavit states.
But a witness told police that he saw an SUV follow a woman.
Cantu leaves behind seven children.
Spurlock says some of the children are old enough to understand their mom isn't ever coming home, but they can't understand why anyone would do this to their mother.
"He caused tremendous heartache for so many, and I hope he pays. I hope she receives the justice she deserves," she said.