Yasmel Garcia-Victoria's family say they never trusted her boyfriend -- the last person to see the 23-year-old alive.
"Whenever he hit her, she'd come home," said her aunt, Ada Silfa. "Then he'd come over, crying, and she'd take him back. You just couldn't explain it."
Police say the couple were fighting early Sunday morning just before Garcia-Victoria was struck by at least four vehicles on I-285 near Cobb Parkway. Michael Swetell's behavior played a role in his girlfriend's death, said Cobb police spokesman Dana Pierce, leading investigators to charge the 38-year-old with involuntary manslaughter, reckless conduct, concealing a death, tampering with evidence and DUI.
Pierce said Swetell, being held without bail in the Cobb Adult Detention Center, has a history of domestic violence, with reports filed against him by Marietta and Gwinnett County authorities.
Swetell, a father of two, told police he and Garcia-Victoria were fighting when he abruptly pulled the emergency brake, causing his 2002 Honda Civic to come to a halt in the emergency lane on I-285. Both got out of the car and continued to argue, he said, before Garcia-Victoria was run over. Only one driver stopped to report the accident and police have no description of the first car that hit the victim.
"There is no way he is innocent," said Silfa, questioning why Swetell drove two exits west to a Waffle House before notifying anyone what had occurred. A Waffle House waitress was the first person to contact 911 about Garcia-Victoria's death.
"Why did he leave the scene of the accident?" Silfa said. "Why didn't he call the cops?"
Silfa said she suspects her niece might've been pushed into traffic by Swetell, a possibility pursued by investigators.
"They are looking at that aspect of the fatality, but it's hard to determine since there were no witnesses, only the suspect," Pierce said. "The medical examiner and our [Selective Traffic Enforcement Program] Unit are working together to determine what tests are needed to determine manner and cause of death. They are not ruling anything out at this time."
Silfa said the family hopes someone will come forward with more information.
"Someone must've seen what happened," she said.
Garcia-Victoria, who had recently enrolled in Penn Foster Career School to become a physical therapist, last saw her family on July 4, said her stepfather.
"She told me everything was going all right," Manuel Montes De Oca said.
Now they're planning for her funeral, scheduled for Saturday. Garcia-Victoria's aunt said there won't be a viewing of her body; "[Police] won't let us see her," she said.
"Yasmel was a 15-year-old trapped in a 23-year-old's body," Silfa said. "I'll remember her smile. No matter what you told her, she'd always be smiling."
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