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Investigators were drawing closer to cracking the case when Bryan Meza-Roca, 26, surrendered to face charges of leaving the scene of a fatal crash and endangering an injured victim, authorities said.
Meza-Roca was driving a 2021 Hyundai Santa Fe that they said struck Mustafa Hemaid, 33, on the busy eastbound highway outside Clifton Commons and kept going before dawn on June 13.
Hemaid’s remains weren't discovered until daylight, when a 911 caller reported seeing “mannequin parts” along the shoulder near the median, a veteran investigator told Daily Voice.
Responding officers also found parts of the Santa Fe, including the driver’s side mirror.
"It's unusual, to say the least," the investigator said. "At no point did anyone report seeing a body. Apparently, no one realized what it was."
Meza-Roca surrendered on June 18. The next day, a Central Judicial Processing Court judge in Paterson freed him pending further court action.
Among the conditions of his release, Meza-Roca had to surrender his driver’s license and remain monitored while the case against him proceeds.
He will have to appear before a Superior Court judge in Paterson in the near future for an arraignment on this week’s grand jury indictment, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes said.
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