One year after losing daughter in hit-and-run, Osprey family waits for driver's sentencing

Almost a year ago, 13-year-old Lilly Glaubach climbed onto her bicycle outside Pine View School ready to bike a little over a mile to the family's new home in The Oaks subdivision. It was only the second or third time she had ridden her bike to school.

Before she set off, Lilly texted her mom: "I'm on my way home. I love you."

It was the last text she got from her daughter.

When Sarah Alexander responded about 10 minutes later, she received a reply from an officer asking her to call.

Previous reporting: Sentencing pushed to August for Osprey man involved in hit-and-run that killed teenager

More: 13-year-old girl succumbs to injuries 11 days after hit-and-run in Sarasota County

The family learned a dark sedan slammed into Lilly while she was crossing East Bay Street at the intersection with Old Venice Road at 4:16 p.m., according to a Florida Highway Patrol report. The driver fled the scene but was found the next day after a resident reported a suspicious vehicle matching the details and license plate information from the incident, according to previous Sarasota Herald-Tribune reporting.

Lilly died 11 days later on Aug. 28, just shy of her 14th birthday.

Lilly's family and loved ones are still waiting for justice as the sentencing for the man arrested and charged in connection to Lilly's death has been delayed until Aug. 31.

David Chang, 66, pleaded no contest in March to charges of leaving the scene of the crash involving a death and alternating or destroying evidence. The defense has asked for a sentence of three years of home confinement and no prison time.

“The whole thing is upsetting,” Sarah Alexander said during a sit-down interview with the Herald-Tribune. “I mean, our daughter was killed, that's upsetting on its own, but then the way that it happened and the lack of remorse, and it just seems like a really bad dream, like it just does not seem real.”

A sweet, sweet girl who was the family's glue

Six-year-old Lilly smiles broadly at her mom, dark red lipstick smeared on her lips and a dark blue sequined top shining as she poses for photos.

Sarah Alexander laughed at the memory while sitting next to her husband and Lilly’s stepfather, Paul Alexander, in the living area of their Osprey home. A portrait of Lilly and her two younger brothers, Peter and Marshall, watch over the room as Lilly’s Siamese cat, Love, rolls onto her back demanding attention.

When her daughter was young, people would tell Sarah Alexander that she was special, and over the years, it became evident to Lilly's family and friends that it was true. Lilly was an artist at heart, fiercely caring of everyone she met, confident and comfortable in her own skin, and had an empathetic soul that shined through everything she did for others.

“There’s a huge piece missing because she just was her own force,” Sarah Alexander said.

Despite being older than her brothers, Lilly was the bridge between them, the Alexanders said. Lilly would take an interest in what her brothers loved — from drawing Pokémon characters on sticky notes and playing Pokémon Go with Marshall to getting involved with Peter’s love of Taekwondo and playing a game he’d learned at a camp called Blind Ninja.

During family movie nights, everyone would curl up together on the couch with popcorn. Lilly would take turns cuddling with each of her family members.

Lilly’s creativity was a central part of her identity, asking her mom from a young age to buy her books on how to draw animals and figures. It only expanded as she got older, asking her artist grandmother about art and taking art electives in school.

Paul Alexander shared a blanket his friends from work made of a collage of photos he'd taken of Lilly asleep in the car, her head often tilted to the side. He explained anytime he'd pick up Lilly, she would fall asleep, and he would snap a quick, silly picture. The center photo on the blanket shows Lilly with a small smile on her face.

Lilly knew her stepdad was taking the photo, but pretended to still be asleep so he could capture the moment, he said.

The Alexanders moved from Lakewood Ranch to The Oaks subdivision in June 2022 to be closer to Lilly’s school. Previously, their daughter was doing 12-hour days, commuting from the family's home in Lakewood Ranch to the orthodontics practice where her mom worked in Sarasota to a bus stop near Phillippi Shores Elementary School to catch a bus all the way down to Pine View School and returning the same way.

'Unapologetically herself': Lilly's friends share their memories

Lilly's friends remember her signature baggy, ripped jeans, her infectious laugh, how she'd listen to true crime podcasts while she did her art, and her carefree, but caring nature. Her kindness to everyone she met is reflected in the memories her friends shared.

Erika Walters moved to Florida in 2019, attending two different middle schools during her sixth-grade year. It had been hard to make friends, she said. Then she met Lilly at a YMCA camp over spring break and the two became close.

The camp was also where Lilly met Hunter Glickman and Caden Blaney.

Glickman recalled he hadn't expected to make any friends at the camp, but he ended up becoming close with Blaney and Lilly, who always tried to steal his salmon-colored hat.

"Lilly was the first person who I felt like I could just tell anything to, cause she was always very just open to listening and whatever you had to say, she would just take it and she would give me very honest advice, even if it wasn't what you wanted to hear," Glickman said.

Blaney added that the four of them used to hang out every day at camp and that Lilly was always happy, laughing, and smiling.

For Kiana Cullen, who became friends with Lilly in sixth grade after she asked for help with her homework, one of the fondest memories of her close friend was how she would tackle her friends with hugs during sleepovers. Lilly loved physical touch, including hugging and cuddling, Cullen said.

Lilly's outgoing personality and her inclusivity are what brought her close friends together, Niya Bobban said, adding that she was also "such a confidence boost" whenever her friends needed to be uplifted.

"I feel like after she was gone, a whole part of our friend group was gone and it was really hard to deal with," Bobban said. "Because, again, it was all of us going through this grief, and with her gone, it just didn't ever feel the same again."

For Charlotte White, Lilly was so much more than a friend. She added that there were so many parts to Lilly that she can't seem to find in other people.

She was the type of person who could make a bad day better by finding something to laugh about and supporting her friends through tough times. She also had an addictive energy and joy for life about her, White said.

"I just miss having someone who is really, truly a friend," White said. "Like, just whatever the epitome of an amazing friend is, that's what she was."

'A really bright future': A prosecutor and an artist

While Lilly was a talented artist, her kind and caring nature was leading her towards another career path when she discovered she might want to be a prosecutor.

Sarah Alexander said that one day in seventh grade, Lilly came home from her U.S. Government class and told her mom she was thinking of becoming a prosecutor when she was older so she could help people and put the bad guys away. Although, she would still be an artist on the side.

"She had a really bright future," Sarah Alexander said, adding that if anyone could be a prosecutor and an artist, it would have been her daughter.

Lilly was also very self-motivated, her parents said. She was the type of person who would set her own goals, and as soon as she reached them, she’d quit.

Paul Alexander recalled that Lilly joined a soccer team for a little over a year, and her only goal was to score a goal. As soon as she scored her goal, she stopped playing.

'Lilly's legacy': Family, friends dedicate art garden to late Pine View School student

It was the same with gymnastics. Lilly’s goal was to beat her friend, who had been doing gymnastics for much longer, and to get on the competition team. Lilly practiced gymnastics for a couple of years, but once she made the competition team, she was done.

"I just want to mention that Lilly had so, so much potential, I mean she really could've been someone who accomplished nearly impossible things," Cullen said in a text message. "She was just so determined when hard tasks came up and David Chang took that all away from her. He took away a person who could've made the world a better place."

Assistant State Attorney looking into potential reporting bill

The State Attorney’s Office is working on putting together a bill that would help ensure families like these don’t end up in the dark after hit-and-run incidents.

“Their hope with the bill is just when reporting damage to your car, you provide a police report or that it becomes searchable to the police,” Paul Alexander said.

Sarasota State Attorney Ed Brodsky confirmed his office has been working closely with Sen. Joe Gruters and that the bill is in the drafting stage. The bill has support from the Florida chapter of the nonprofit Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and from Rep. Jessica Baker, who is interested in sponsoring the bill in the House, he said.

Brodsky added the bill will require autobody shops to report if vehicles come in with damage so that law enforcement can look up the information in a database, similar to 2009's prescription drug monitoring program which requires pharmacists and dispensing practitioners to report certain information into a database that can be accessed by others so patients can't doctor shop to get more opioids or other pharmaceutical drugs.

The legislation would be a step in addressing what Brodsky believes is an epidemic problem in Florida.

In 2021, there were a total of more than 109,000 hit-and-run crashes in Florida, resulting in 306 deaths and 23,193 people sustaining injuries, according to Florida Highway Patrol’s annual report. Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles analysis found that there was a more than 17% increase in hit-and-run crashes in 2021 compared with 2020, and fatalities from those crashes were up over 18%.

The family hopes that Lilly’s death can make a positive change.

The family feels they’re lucky that the Sarasota community is so tight-knit and people are tuned in to what’s happening because if it hadn’t been for a good Samaritan who called the police about Chang, they might never have learned who had hit Lilly. It would have left them wondering at every person they came across, “Was it them?”

For subscribers: Bloodied bikes, scarred kids: What is Sarasota doing to prevent school zone accidents?

Previous court coverage: Osprey man, 66, pleads no contest to charges for hit-and-run that killed 13-year-old

Following the hit-and-run, there was a public push to improve safety measures at the intersection.

Scott Wolfinger, a teacher at Pine View School, started a petition in the hopes of adding stop signs to the intersection, according to previous reporting. The petition gathered more than 5,300 signatures.

An update from Sarasota County’s Public Works indicates no new traffic stops or a signal will be added.

In November, the county’s Public Works Transportation staff conducted a traffic study of the intersection to see if any traffic control changes should be made, according to an email from a Sarasota County spokesperson.

The study found that the location didn’t meet the requirements to add an all-way stop or traffic signal. The email stated county staff did upgrade the signing and markings at the crosswalk at the intersection in accordance with the most recent edition of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Device.

This included installing pedestrian crossing signs in advance of the crosswalk and “Stop Here for Pedestrian” signs in both directions at the crosswalk.

“It is important to note that installing traffic control that is not appropriate can create safety issues,” the email says.

Other pedestrian safety improvements the county has taken, according to the email, include building a new sidewalk on the north side of Bay Street; installing crosswalks with pedestrian-activated flashes at Old Venice Road and at a mid-block location near Pine Ranch Road; installing crosswalk and signs on Bay Street at Explorer Drive and Bay Street Park; and upgrading signs and striping to the school zone crosswalk on Old Venice Road at Burney Road.

The county also received a $350,000 grant from the Federal Highway Transportation Administration through the Safe Streets and Roads for All program. It will be used to create a county-wide roadway safety plan and evaluate the intersection again for crash-related safety measures.

A bad dream

Lilly’s family and friends are still reeling from the tragedy as the one-year anniversary of her death approaches.

“For a long time, I felt like she was still here,” Sarah Alexander said. “It’s been hard to wrap my mind around the fact that she’s not.”

Lilly’s room remains mostly the same, a neon Nike shoe painting hangs above her bed with its white comforter, and a corkboard displays photographs and drawings on another wall. A framed print of a painting of Audrey Hepburn wearing her signature “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” tiara is displayed adjacent to the bed.

It’s mostly a space for the family’s cats, with one continuing to claim the bed as her own just as she did countless times with Lilly, who happily sat on the floor to not disturb her cat’s sleep.

For her mom, the hardest part has been doing family activities without her daughter, especially not being able to hear Lilly’s laugh.

“We just went to Disney last weekend, and I think I missed her the most than I have in a long time just because we were having such a great time as a family,” Sarah Alexander said. “And it's just hard to think that she's not going to enjoy those times, you know?”

Gabriela Szymanowska covers the legal system for the Herald-Tribune in partnership with Report for America. You can support her work with a tax-deductible donation to Report for America. Contact Gabriela Szymanowska at gszymanowska@gannett.com, or on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: A year after Sarasota County teen's death, remembering Lilly Glaubach