A Florida woman made one confession to her boss that will leave you speechless

Some people will do anything to avoid getting in trouble at work.

But a 24-year-old Florida woman took that to a sickening extreme.

And a Florida woman made one confession to her boss that will leave you speechless.

Aliya Cruz admitted she “possibly killed someone” on the way to work

Early Monday morning, August 18, tragedy struck on West Highland Street in Lakeland, Florida.

Just before 4 a.m., a 911 caller reported seeing a woman lying in the middle of the road.

When first responders arrived, they found 27-year-old Danielle Stilwell dead in the roadway – along with broken vehicle parts scattered around the scene.

But here’s where this story gets absolutely infuriating.

The driver who killed Stilwell didn’t stick around to help.

She didn’t call 911.

She didn’t even stop to check if the victim was alive.

Instead, 24-year-old Aliya Cruz made a U-turn and drove straight to her job at a Publix warehouse – because she “didn’t want to be late for work.”

But Cruz knew exactly what she had done.

Security cameras and badge readers confirmed Cruz arrived at work right on time that morning.

That’s when she walked up to her supervisor and made a confession that should chill you to the bone.

Cruz told her boss she had “possibly killed someone” on the way to work.

She even showed him photos of the damage to her car.

Cruz’s supervisor did what she should have done

When Cruz’s supervisor heard this shocking admission, he gave her the advice any decent human being would give.

He told her to call the police immediately and report what happened.

But Cruz wasn’t interested in doing the right thing.

“I don’t really want to say anything,” she told him.

She kept making excuses: “Well uhm, I know I didn’t hit them,” “I don’t think I hit the person,” and “I know I swerved.”

Look, here’s what’s really going on here – Cruz knew she had killed someone and chose to go to work anyway.

This wasn’t some split-second decision in the heat of the moment.

She had time to turn around, make a U-turn, and continue to work.

She had time to take photos of her damaged car.

She had time to think about what to tell her boss.

At any point during those crucial minutes, she could have called for help.

Case solved in four days

While Cruz was busy covering her tracks, Polk County Sheriff’s Office detectives canvassed the area for surveillance footage and found video from a nearby Sunoco gas station showing a black sedan – Cruz’s car – leaving the scene without stopping to help.

The footage showed the vehicle making the exact same turns Cruz described: right onto Wabash, then an immediate U-turn, then back onto West Highland Street to continue toward her workplace.

Within four days, these dedicated investigators had tracked down Cruz’s black Kia Forte parked near the crash site.

The car was missing parts from the driver’s side – the same parts found scattered around Danielle Stilwell’s body.

Sheriff Grady Judd praised his team’s work: “My Traffic Homicide detectives are the very best in the business. They meticulously work around the clock when conducting fatal crash investigations, especially those that involve suspects who flee the scene.”

Cruz’s excuse doesn’t hold water

When detectives finally caught up with Cruz on Friday, August 22, she tried to spin a story about being blinded by high beams from an oncoming truck.

She claimed she swerved to avoid Stilwell, who she said was lying in the road with her hands over her face, and thought she didn’t hit her.

But here’s the problem with that story – the surveillance video doesn’t show any truck traveling eastbound before Cruz made her turns.

“There isn’t anything [on the video] to corroborate her story,” the Polk County Sheriff’s Office told investigators.

Cruz was finally arrested and charged with leaving the scene of a crash involving death.

She posted $50,000 bail and was released Sunday.

You want to know what this really shows you about where we are as a society?

This woman was more worried about being late to stock shelves at a grocery warehouse than she was about potentially taking someone’s life.

Even after realizing she might have killed someone, her first instinct wasn’t to get help – it was to document the damage for insurance purposes and ask her boss for advice.

The supervisor – a guy making probably $15 an hour managing warehouse workers – showed more moral clarity than Cruz did.

He immediately told her to call the police.

That’s basic human decency, and apparently it’s becoming rare enough that we have to celebrate it when we see it.

Cruz faces up to five years in prison if convicted.

But five years seems like a pretty light sentence for someone who valued punctuality more than a human life.

Danielle Stilwell was just 27 years old when Cruz’s selfishness ended her life.

She deserved better than being left to die alone in the street while her killer worried about getting written up at work.

¹ Jake Grissom, “Lakeland Woman Arrested Four Days After Hit-And-Run That Killed 27-Year-Old Woman,” 10 Tampa Bay, August 23, 2025.

² “Woman arrested in fatal Polk County hit-and-run crash, sheriff’s office says,” WKMG ClickOrlando, August 25, 2025.

³ KC Wildmoon, “Florida Woman Didn’t Stop For Fatal Hit-and-Run Because She Didn’t Want to Be Late for Work,” Crime Online, August 25, 2025.

⁴ Marisa Sarnoff, “’Did not want to be late’: Woman charged with hit-and-run told boss she had ‘possibly killed someone’ on the way to work that morning, cops say,” Law & Crime, August 25, 2025.