On September 22, 2013, Riley Hoover struck and killed Kristina on Nord Avenue in Chico while she was riding her bicycle home from the library. His blood alcohol level was .33 — more than four times the legal limit. He fled the scene. Butte County prosecutors later revealed he was a drug dealer already on felony probation in Ohio at the time of the crash.
Hoover was sentenced to seven years in prison. He was released in 2020.
One year later, he was arrested in Ohio as part of a federal drug trafficking investigation — charged with dealing LSD and other controlled substances. On October 28, 2022, he accepted a plea deal and was sentenced to nine years in federal prison.
Sandra Chesterman was in the courtroom when Hoover apologized.
"He did say that he was sorry and he said that it was just an accident. I know that he didn't go out intending to kill her that night. It was a tearful apology from him but it was still empty. I think he knew that, or felt like it was important what he said to us on that day, but it didn't feel genuine."
— Sandra Chesterman
Originally reported by Kelli Saam, Action News Now, October 28, 2022.