Police Believe Florida Teen Found Dead Near Road Was a Hit-and-Run Victim

A Miami teen was found dead on the side of a road and police believe she was a victim of a hit-and-run.

Diani Gomez Sanchez, 16, was found at about 5 p.m. Sunday off the 79th Street causeway near Pelican Harbor Marina, after going for a run in the early morning the day before, according to reports.

Her body was found in the bushes off the causeway after family and law enforcement had been searching for her a day earlier.

"I saw her phone and I said that's my niece's phone, and then I saw her shirt that her mom said she was wearing," the victim's uncle told CBS 4.

The family told authorities that the teen went on a morning run around 6:30 a.m., according to reports. Her uncle said she often goes for a run.

At first, police suspected the girl had been murdered, but by Monday afternoon they determined she was struck by a gray or silver car.

Police are questioning the owner of the car found near the scene, with a dent in the front of their car and a smashed window. Officials haven't confirmed that it was the car that struck the Miami teen.

"The last couple of days it was parked there with a flat tire and a hit on the right-hand side from the front to about the back door," a neighbor who noticed the damaged car told NBC 6. "You don't hit someone and then walk away. [You] stay there."

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