$10,000 offered for information on hit-and-run that killed 20-year-old Lakeland woman

LAKELAND, Fla. — When 20-year-old Jill Braddock finished having dinner with friends at a Lakeland restaurant and realized she didn’t have a ride home, she decided to walk the six miles home.

At 6:40 a.m., Braddock was found dead on the side of Clubhouse Road, the victim of a hit-and-run crash, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said.

A $10,000 reward has been offered for any information in the case, the sheriff’s office has announced.

Braddock was killed between 12:30-1 a.m. on Aug. 9, but wasn’t found until the next morning.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd pleaded with the public for information in the still-unsolved case.

“We have seen that Crime Stopper tips work,” he wrote on the sheriff’s office Facebook page. “Just this week we were able to solve a hit-and-run case in which one person was killed and one of our deputies seriously injured.

“Ms. Braddock’s family deserves the same answers.”

Based on evidence found at the scene of the crash, investigators believe the vehicle involved was a 2007-2009 dark-colored Nissan Altima.

The car would be missing a passenger side mirror and part of its front bumper, and has cutouts for fog lights but none installed.

Anyone with information on the crash is asked to contact Heartland Crime Stoppers, 800-226-TIPS.

Cox Media Group