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Victor E. Diaz Castenada was being held in the Bergen County Jail on Tuesday, Jan. 10, in connection with the death exactly a week earlier of Shazia Faazal, 51.
Castenada was driving a 2010 Honda Civic that struck Faazal on Outwater Lane near Alaska Street at 8:51 p.m. Jan. 3 and kept going, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said.
Witnesses said Faazal was dragged at least 50 feet.
She was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center, where she was later pronounced dead, the prosecutor said.
Detectives from his Major Crimes Unit conducted an intensive search, assisted by Garfield police, for the vehicle and those involved.
Among the surveillance video they collected is a view from a neighbor's home showing the eastbound dark-colored vehicle turning and driving off after hitting Faazal (see photo below).
In the week since the crash, Diaz posted two homes for sale on his Instagram account, in which he touts an "[h]honest [a]approach" to his business.
In addition to criminal charges, Castenada received several motor vehicle summonses, Musella said. A first appearance on the criminal counts will be held in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack, he said.
SEE: Search Intensifies For Hit-And-Run Driver Who Killed Bergen Mother Of 5
Faazal was on the cusp of middle age when she said goodbye to her parents and moved to the United States from Pakistan 12 years ago. She settled in Garfield with her children and husband, Sheikh Faazal Mahmood.
Faazal's oldest child is 30. She and her husband had three other daughters and a son, the youngest of them in their teens.
One of the daughters was supposed to fly back to Pakistan last week. She must now "stay back to look after her younger brothers and sisters," said niece Sabina Mahmood.
"It's such a tragedy for all of us," Mahmood said. "She was a lovely woman, an amazing human being. She was a helper, a friend."
"I wasn't ready for any of this. I wasn't ready for this. I needed my mom," a sobbing Afaf Faazal told News4 New York's Pat Battle outside her parents’ home the morning after.
Neighbors said they "heard a loud thud and then screams."
One said she watched as paramedics furiously tried to revive Faazal with CPR.
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