Ashburn man sentenced in connection to deadly 2019 hit and run

CRISP COUNTY, Ga. (WALB) - An Ashburn man has been found guilty by a Crisp County jury on several charges including vehicular homicide in connection to the 2019 death of a Cordele woman after a hit and run.

Travis Leon Waters, 35, was found guilty of first-degree vehicular homicide, hit and run and failure to report an accident in the Crisp County Superior Court during a four-day jury trial.

Waters was sentenced to 20 years, with 15 of those years to be served in prison, according to a release from the Cordele Judicial Circuit.

On Sept. 8, 2019, Ethelene Lewis was walking along Joe Wright Drive in Cordele when she was struck by Waters’ SUV, per the court. The next day, Lewis’s body was found in a drainage ditch about 150 feet from her driveway.

The court says Waters failed to stop, failed to call 911, failed to render aid and failed to notify anyone about the incident.

Waters then reportedly had his girlfriend falsely report to law enforcement that she was driving and hit “something” in the same location where Lewis’ body was found.

The Cordele Police Department and Georgia State Patrol’s (GSP) Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team discovered debris from the Waters’ vehicle, as well as Lewis’ purse and shoe on the side of the road.

City cameras also caught the collision on video. Cameras also caught Lewis driving straight to a car wash immediately after the crash.