Driver accused of hitting, killing woman in Murray crosswalk in July is arrested

MURRAY — A Salt Lake man who police say is a habitual DUI offender has been arrested for allegedly hitting and killing a woman in a crosswalk in Murray in July and driving off.

Nathan Michael Portillo, 24, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail early Tuesday for investigation of murder, failing to remain at the scene of an accident involving death, reckless driving, obstruction of justice, making a threat of violence, speeding, driving on a revoked license and making an unsafe lane change.

On July 31, just after 11 p.m., Kimberley Jean Jespersen, 53, was crossing 4500 South at State Street in a crosswalk when she was hit by a gray Chevrolet hatchback. Police say the collision was “minor” and the driver of the Hatchback stopped and talked to Jespersen, according to a police booking affidavit.

“During this conversation, the eastbound lights turned green. A short while later, a dark truck approached State Street while traveling eastbound on 4500 South,” the affidavit states. “The truck driver appears to notice the hatchback at the last minute and swerves to avoid a collision. The truck narrowly misses hitting the hatchback but strikes the pedestrian. The pedestrian later died at the hospital.”

The GMC Sierra pickup that allegedly hit Jespersen then drove off.

“Through interviewing witnesses and cellphone data, Nathan Portillo was identified as the driver of the GMC,” according to the affidavit.

Detectives from the Murray police department further learned that prior to the fatal auto-pedestrian crash, Portillo was driving his pickup from Manga and “witness testimony indicates he was heavily intoxicated. Nathan was driving erratically, speeding and making statements to a passenger in the truck that he was going to ‘kill us both,'” the passenger allegedly told police.

The passenger, a woman, said she was so fearful of being killed that she jumped from the moving vehicle when she felt it had slowed down enough, the affidavit states.

“His threats of killing her and his reckless driving was so severe and caused (the woman) such fear that she jumped from the moving vehicle sustaining minor scrapes to her knees,” police noted in their affidavit. “Although the passenger managed to escape the vehicle with only minor injuries prior to the crash, (Portillo’s driving) ultimately resulted in the death of a pedestrian a short time later.”

Investigators determined Portillo was traveling 55 mph prior to the crash. Police say he also “has a suspended license due to a drug offense” and “is a habitual DUI offender (and) was likely DUI at the time of the crash, and continues to drink excessively since the accident as well,” the affidavit states.

Portillo also attempted to hide the crash “by repairing the damage on the front of the truck by pulling the dent out.”

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