Guilty plea in crash that killed Newton woman training for Father Kapaun pilgrimage
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- A Hutchinson woman pleaded guilty to fleeing a 2024 crash that killed a pedestrian.
- Laurie Oswald Robinson was struck and killed while training for a religious walk.
- Sentencing is set for Oct. 14, 2025, on the charge of leaving a fatality accident.
A Hutchinson woman has pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of a hit-and-run crash that killed a Newton resident training for a religious walk last year.
Laurie Oswald Robinson, 64, was fatally struck by a vehicle while walking across the Southeast 24th Street bridge over I-135 highway in Harvey County on April 8, 2024. Authorities have previously said the collision, which occurred between 6 and 8 a.m., knocked Robinson down the embankment under the bridge. A truck driver saw her and reported the death around 9 a.m. that morning, The Eagle reported previously.
The driver left the scene without calling 911 or otherwise notifying authorities, according to a news release Tuesday from Harvey County Attorney Heather Figger.
Samara Maple, 25, was eventually identified as the driver and charged.
Maple entered a guilty plea Tuesday to one count of leaving the scene of a fatality accident and is scheduled for sentencing on Oct. 14, Figger said in the release.
Robinson was a journalist and author who was also a teacher and substitute teacher in Newton. Her obituary says she was killed “as she trained for the Father Kapaun Pilgrimage,” an annual 60-mile walk honoring Catholic priest and Army chaplain Father Emil Kapaun, who died as a prisoner of war in 1951.
