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Police Seek Vehicle Tied to Hit-and-Run Death of Barista Carissa Hinz

By Alex Parker | June 15, 2014 4:09pm | Updated on June 15, 2014 4:19pm
 Friends said Bridgeport hit-and-run victim Carissa Hinz was ready for summer parties and pursuing a life as an artist.
Carissa Hinz
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CHICAGO — A year after a Bridgeport barista was killed in a hit-and-run, police have renewed a call for information about the driver who hit her.

Carissa Hinz, 21, was struck by a maroon Hyundai Sonata shortly after 11 p.m. on June 14, 2013, according to police.

The car that hit Hinz was driven by a male Hispanic in his 20s, had two other passengers, and fled southbound after the incident, police said.

The impact from the crash threw Hinz into the rear windshield of a car parked about a 100 feet away, police said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Hinz was an aspiring artist and a popular barista at the Bridgeport Coffee Company.

"She was just a sweetheart," said Rob Hodges, a local carpenter, shortly after her death. "She was a light, like a lightbulb to a moth, a good person."

Hinz was a graduate of the American Academy of Art, where she studied graphic design and photography.

She frequently volunteered at the Co-Prosperity Sphere, an art gallery at 3219 S. Morgan St. where she spent the evening she died, according to a post on her Facebook profile.

Friends partnered with Cook County Crime Stoppers to offer a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case. According to a flier created by Hinz's friends, the vehicle that hit her was abandoned in front of 3815 S. Union Ave., and the occupants fled.

The Chicago Police Department's Major Accidents Unit is investigating, and asks anyone with information to call 312-745-4521, referencing case number HW319202.

Contributing: Casey Cora and Erin Meyer

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