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Hartford, Conn. — Life can be a momentary beautifully painful experience, especially during those moments when one you love leaves you to experience it alone. Three children in Hartford now have to navigate life without the nutritious nurturing love of their mother after a hit-and-run in Hartford, Connecticut.
At approximately 3:45am, Keyshla M. Ortiz-Benitez was enjoying her life as the stars orbited around the capital of Connecticut. She was leaving Colt Park, headed to the parking lot at the intersection of Wawarme Ave and Ledyard Street. Colt Park was once the pleasure grounds of Samuel Colt and his wife Elizabeth. But gun violence would not be the unnatural cause of Keylita’s passing; that crime would be done by a speeding vehicle, which continued accelerating after striking her. Keyshla, a mother of three, was Rhode Island native who was actively pursuing higher education at Southern New Hampshire University. She was named to the Dean’s List for the Fall of 2025. This academic pursuit, which empathizes her determination for the upward of her family, has been replaced by an investigative pursuit for her killer.
The area south of Colt Park is primarily industrial yet we know Keyshla was not alone by the speed of emergency dispath calls which were received at 3:48am. Two and a half minutes of absolute panic replaced joyful moments with loved ones. As the vehicle moved toward the highways, police would rush to the scene where they found Keyshla with multiple blunt force injuries.
The fault lies with the driver and the municpal government of Hartford. Urban planning and transit studies confirm that Ledyard Street is designed as an industrial bypass. Municipal records, including the Hartford-Wethersfield Trail Routing Study, note that nearby corridors like Airport Road carry traffic volumes approaching 20,000 Average Daily Traffic (ADT). Because Ledyard Street accommodates commercial trucking, its wide lanes, broad turning radii, and long straightaways encourage speeding, especially during late-night and early-morning hours when traffic density is low.
While Hartford has installed raised speed humps and buffered bicycle lanes in residential areas and adjacent to Colt Park on Wawarme Avenue, these traffic-calming measures do not extend to the industrial section of Ledyard Street. This creates a dangerous transition zone where vehicles coming off high-speed bypasses enter an area with limited street lighting and discontinuous sidewalks, placing night-shift workers and early-morning pedestrians at significant risk.
Nothing will bring back this beautiful mother. Nothing will soothe the pain these children feel. We can only hope they do not internalize it and let it fester into anger. At the moment, we all have a write to anger but justice shall soon pervail. The Ledyard roadway appears to have cameras in the area, which may have captured this heinous act.
Loved ones have launched an online fundraiser to help support Ortiz-Benitez's three young children, remembering her as a devoted mother whose life was cut tragically short.
The Hartford Police Crime Scene Division is actively investigating the incident. Authorities urge anyone with information, dashboard camera footage, or surveillance video from the area to contact the Hartford Police Department Tip Line at 860-722-TIPS (8477).
