Oct 11, 2026 · 23 min · 18 segments
The CHEK News Podcast is your daily snapshot of the news of the day. For more Vancouver Island news watch CHEK News at 5pm, 6pm, and 10pm or for news anytime go to cheknews.ca and subscribe to the…
Kendall HansonEliasGuestJess McCool
Mary GriffinJadis LeoJeff Kingspeaker_3speaker_16A 30-year-old Cowichan Valley man has pleaded guilty for failing to stop after an accident that caused death.
The high-profile fatal hit-and-run happened in April of 2024.
Today, there were also new details about how the RCMP determined the driver's identity.
As 30-year-old Ryan William Gillespie Mesa leaves the Duncan Courthouse, he's not answering questions.
Anything you want to say to the victim's family, Ryan?
He's just pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to stop after fatally striking and killing 17-year-old Leanne Jo, who was walking near the centre median of the Trans-Canada Highway shortly before 10pm on April 18, 2024.
No one witnessed the crash, but other drivers arrived on the scene not long after it happened.
According to an autopsy report, Leanne Jo was killed nearly instantaneously from catastrophic injuries to her neck.
Crown Council says based on fragments of the vehicle found at the crash scene, police believed a grade 2011 to 2013 Hyundai Elantra, similar to this one, was involved.
Six days later, police got a call about a tarped Hyundai Elantra parked on Hutchinson Road east of Cobble Hill with front-end damage and no license plates.
Missing car parts from the vehicle had been found at the scene as well Joe's DNA was found on the outside of the recovered vehicle.
Leanne Jo's parents, some of her siblings and other family attended today's court hearing and were visibly upset by what they heard.
They declined an on-camera interview, but her father says he doesn't want another family to experience a similar loss.
I just don't want that to happen to her.
Anyone knows what happened to my daughter.
She's telling me to be safe.
In August 2015, 26-year-old Ian Henry, a sibling of Leanne Jo, went missing.
Mesa still faces another six counts of possessing drugs for the purpose of trafficking that the Crown says is connected.
A 30-year-old Cowichan Valley man has pleaded guilty for failing to stop after an accident that caused death.
The high-profile fatal hit-and-run happened in April of 2024.
Today, there were also new details about how the RCMP determined the driver's identity.
As 30-year-old Ryan William Gillespie Mesa leaves the Duncan Courthouse, he's not answering questions.
Anything you want to say to the victim's family, Ryan?
He's just pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to stop after fatally striking and killing 17-year-old Leanne Jo, who was walking near the centre median of the Trans-Canada Highway shortly before 10pm on April 18, 2024.
No one witnessed the crash, but other drivers arrived on the scene not long after it happened.
According to an autopsy report, Leanne Jo was killed nearly instantaneously from catastrophic injuries to her neck.
Crown Council says based on fragments of the vehicle found at the crash scene, police believed a grade 2011 to 2013 Hyundai Elantra, similar to this one, was involved.
Six days later, police got a call about a tarped Hyundai Elantra parked on Hutchinson Road east of Cobble Hill with front-end damage and no license plates.
Missing car parts from the vehicle had been found at the scene as well Joe's DNA was found on the outside of the recovered vehicle.
Leanne Jo's parents, some of her siblings and other family attended today's court hearing and were visibly upset by what they heard.
They declined an on-camera interview, but her father says he doesn't want another family to experience a similar loss.
I just don't want that to happen to her.
Anyone knows what happened to my daughter.
She's telling me to be safe.
In August 2015, 26-year-old Ian Henry, a sibling of Leanne Jo, went missing.
Mesa still faces another six counts of possessing drugs for the purpose of trafficking that the Crown says is connected.
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