Waukegan woman killed in Miami Beach hit-and-run
WAUKEGAN, Ill. (WLS) -- Waukegan native Mariah Logan was killed early Sunday in a hit-and-run in Miami Beach while she was in Florida with three friends celebrating one of their birthdays.
"It was a birthday trip," said Xylina Griffin, Logan's sister. "They went to have fun. They did have fun. I saw so many pictures and things. It just didn't end the way it was supposed to."
Lt. Alejandro Camacho, spokesperson for Florida Highway Patrol, said the 23-year-old was hanging from the right rear window of the car she was traveling in with her friends at around 4:30 a.m. when she fell out of the window and into the roadway.
Logan was struck and killed by a Range Rover that was coming from behind, police said. The driver of that vehicle initially stopped, but then left before authorities arrived on the scene.
The girls in the car with Logan collapsed to the pavement, beside themselves, as investigators paced the lanes of the highway.
"The way it happened, it's not easy to accept a person going out like that. She was an angel," Griffin said.
Griffin said Logan was one of 13 brothers and sisters. She said she doesn't want her sister remembered for how she died, but for how she lived.
"She was a walking angel to everybody and anybody she met. Her friends, family. Anyone will tell you," Griffin said. "Her smile would brighten up a room. She didn't have to say anything. She was always praying for people, letting them know that God was there if you need him. She was big on church."
Logan, who currently lived in Gurnee, worked as a mental health technician at the Ann Kiley Residential Center in Waukegan, a state-operated residence for people with developmental disabilities. It was a job, Griffin said, she was very dedicated to.
"We're just trying to get her home now. Send her home beautifully and everything," she said.
