By: Richard L. Smith
A Newark resident wanted for a deadly hit-and-run in Elizabeth more than three years ago has been captured overseas and returned to New Jersey to face charges, Union County Prosecutor William A. Daniel announced.
Authorities said 27-year-old Trevon Smith was arrested on December 1, 2025, in the Dominican Republic for his alleged role in an October 8, 2022 crash that killed 30-year-old pedestrian Adi Taipe-Castillo of Roselle.
Smith is accused of striking the victim near Newark Avenue and Durant Avenue around 2:47 a.m., then fleeing the scene. First responders found Taipe-Castillo critically injured, and he was pronounced dead shortly after.
According to investigators from the Union County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide Task Force and the Elizabeth Police Department, Smith left the United States just after the crash.
Their multi-year investigation ultimately led to locating him overseas.
Smith has been charged with first-degree aggravated manslaughter, second-degree leaving the scene of a fatal accident, and third-degree hindering prosecution.
After his extradition to the United States, he was transported to New Jersey and placed in the Essex County Jail pending court proceedings.
Anyone with additional information is asked to contact Union County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide Task Force Sergeant Nicholas Falciccio at 908-721-8186 or Elizabeth Police Detective James Lugardo at 732-967-4064.