Daughter Recalls Heartbreaking Question After Mother Killed in 2015 Sidewalk Crash as Accused Gets 18 Years

A Nevada woman, Lakeisha Holloway, was sentenced to 18 years in prison after she killed a mother of three, Jessica Valenzuela, during a violent crash in Las Vegas. The victim was on an anniversary trip with her husband when the tragic incident happened.

During the sentencing hearing, Layla Valenzuela, her daughter, now a teenager, recalled her reaction when her father returned home from the 2015 trip without Jessica.

According to local NBC affiliate KSNV, she said the first thing she asked was, “Where’s mommy?”

Layla, who was 8 at the time, asked her father, Axel Valenzuela, “I want to see her. Where is she?”

Giana Valenzuela, Jessica’s eldest daughter, who was 9 at the time, recalled in court that she never said goodbye to her mother because she never expected her to not return home. “I think about that a lot,” Giana said in court.

Holloway was 24 when she killed Jessica Valenzuela in the crash and injured dozens of people after driving into a crowd. She later changed her name to Paris Morton.

Morton pleaded guilty to second-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon and battery with use of a deadly weapon.

Morton, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison, broke down in court. Morton said, “Your pain, I have never taken for granted.” Addressing the victim’s family, she said, “And to see you today, finally, that you get to have this moment after 11 years. For 11 years, I never wanted to say the wrong thing. [No matter] how many sorries, and how much remorse, words are never enough.”

She added, "I feel like saying this statement and reading this statement to you is an injustice in itself. I'm so sorry for your pain." According to prosecutors, Morton was experiencing a mental health crisis when she veered off the road, crashing into 37 people who were walking along the sidewalk on Las Vegas Boulevard in December 2015.

According to a police report obtained by The Associated Press, she was traveling from Oregon to Las Vegas at the time. She was also homeless and broke, living in her car with her 3-year-old daughter. She was allegedly spending days in parking garages; however, she “kept getting run off by security of the properties.”

During an interview with investigators, Morton said that she did not have an explanation for the crash, but she remembered bodies “bouncing off her windshield, breaking it.”

Before pleading guilty in August 2025, Morton underwent a series of psychiatric evaluations.