Toddler survives, but mom killed in hit-and-run crash

TAMPA (FOX 13) - Tyronda Sampson and her 3-year-old son Kyree were inseparable.  The young single mom was working hard to make a good life for her and her little boy.  But that bond and those future plans ended tragically late last night at the intersection  of East Lake Avenue and North 34th Street in Tampa.

Tyronda's friend Craig McDaniels heard about the crash and rushed to the scene.

"To see this here is just devastating to me. Just devastating," he said.

Tampa police say Rico Taylor, a career criminal driving with a suspended license, slammed into a Tyronda's 2003 Chevy and then took off running.  He was caught a mile away.

Tyronda and her passenger, Michael Wibley, were killed. But Kyree, who was strapped in his car seat, survived.

Craig says that's the type of mom Tyronda was.

"She always did that. That was one of her main things -- the car seat," McDaniels continued.

Investigators believe Rico Taylor had been drinking. They say speed also played a role in the crash.

Tyronda's mother did not want to talk on camera, but she did tell us her daughter was heading home after dropping off her niece who was visiting over the weekend.

Tyronda, she said, was the rock of the family and her baby boy was her life.

Now, little Kyree will grow up without his mother.