Drunk Driver Who Police Say Drove Nearly 40 Miles with Pedestrian’s Body in Car Sentenced to 15 Years

A Texas man accused of striking and killing a pedestrian — then driving for miles with the victim’s body inside his vehicle — has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Nestor Joel Lujan Flores, 31, pleaded guilty to intoxication manslaughter and collision involving death, and was sentenced on Jan. 6, two years after the fatal crash, according to a press release from the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office.

Judge Dominique Collins of Criminal District Court No. 4 sentenced Flores to 15 years on both charges, to run concurrently. The court also entered a deadly weapon finding in the intoxication manslaughter case, meaning Flores must serve at least half of his sentence before becoming eligible for parole, prosecutors said.

The crash happened on the evening of Dec. 16, 2023, when Flores struck a 45-year-old pedestrian on the westbound service road of Interstate 30 near Cockrell Hill Road in west Dallas. Authorities said the impact was so severe that the victim was thrown into Flores’ vehicle, and parts of the victim’s remains were later recovered at the scene.

The pedestrian was later identified as 45-year-old Terry Ivory, according to Fox 4, WFAA and NBC 5.

“He didn’t just leave,” Ivory’s sister, Nikitria Beasley, told FOX 4. “He was taken.”

Despite extensive damage to his vehicle, Flores continued driving west to White Settlement. Surveillance video showed him pulling into a Jack in the Box parking lot shortly after 9 p.m., where he remained for more than two hours, the district attorney’s office said.

Around 11:15 p.m., White Settlement police responded after a customer reported a heavily damaged vehicle and an unresponsive driver. Officers found Ivory’s body in the front passenger seat, authorities said. Flores never reported the crash.

Flores told police he believed he had hit an animal and kept driving. Officers who arrived at the scene said the vehicle showed major damage to the front end, hood and windshield, and Flores was detained after police discovered what appeared to be a human body inside the car.

A blood draw conducted early the next morning found Flores had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.093, prosecutors said. He also had a prior DWI conviction, according to the district attorney’s office.

“This case is a stark reminder of the devastation caused by impaired driving,” Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot said in the release. “The victim lost his life, and a family was forever changed. This sentence reflects the seriousness of the defendant’s actions and holds him accountable for the harm he caused.”