An illegal alien with a canceled license allegedly backed his SUV over an 82-year-old Florida grandmother, then kept backing up and ran over her again, killing her outside a Publix.
Quick Take
- Deborah Murphy, 82, died after being struck by an SUV in a Publix parking lot in Panama City, Florida.
- Carlos Suarez-Contreras, 26, a Venezuelan national, is charged with driving with a canceled license and causing a death.
- An arrest affidavit says the SUV kept backing up and ran over Murphy after the first hit.
- Both Suarez-Contreras and his passenger were living in the country illegally, and both now have immigration detainers.
- Suarez-Contreras is being held without bond as a flight risk tied to his immigration status.
A Grandmother’s Trip to Publix Turns Deadly
Deborah Murphy went to a Publix grocery store in Panama City, Florida, like countless times before. She never made it home. Florida Highway Patrol says an SUV struck her in the parking lot, knocked her down, and kept moving backward, running over her a second time. She died from her injuries at the hospital.
Surveillance video captured the moments leading up to the crash, according to Fox News reporting on footage released by investigators. The video reportedly shows the SUV in the moments before it struck Murphy, giving investigators a visual record to back up the arrest affidavit’s account of what happened next in that parking lot.
Driver Identified as Venezuelan National Living Here Illegally
Court records name Carlos Suarez-Contreras, 26, as the driver. A passenger in the vehicle, Luis Sanabria, 29, gave sworn testimony that Suarez-Contreras was behind the wheel at the time of the crash. Arrest records show Suarez-Contreras’s Georgia driver’s license had already been canceled before the crash even happened.
Suarez-Contreras pleaded not guilty to driving with a canceled license and causing a death. Arrest records state that both he and Sanabria were determined to be living in the country illegally. Sanabria’s visa had reportedly expired, according to the incident report tied to the case.
Immigration Detainers Now Attached to Both Men
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has issued detainers for both men, according to arrest records cited in reporting. Sanabria was released into ICE custody. Suarez-Contreras remains held without bond. Florida Highway Patrol records cite his immigration status as a reason officials believe he poses a flight risk, a serious concern for a man facing a felony charge tied to a death.
This is not a paperwork violation. A man with no valid license, living in the country illegally, allegedly ran over a grandmother in a grocery store parking lot and kept going. That is the kind of case border security advocates have warned about for years, and it landed in a Publix parking lot instead of a headline about policy.
Defense Calls It an Accident, But Questions Remain
Suarez-Contreras’s attorney described the incident as “simply an unfortunate incident and not criminal in nature,” pushing back against the criminal framing prosecutors have applied. That claim has not yet been tested by expert reconstruction of the crash or a full release of the Florida Highway Patrol’s investigative file, including the complete affidavit and scene diagrams.
🇺🇸 An undocumented Venezuelan immigrant has been charged after an 82-year-old Florida grandmother was killed in a Publix parking lot.
Authorities say Deborah Murphy was struck and run over while using a crosswalk outside a Panama City Beach grocery store.
Carlos… pic.twitter.com/kQJ2iaRggv
— NewsForce (@Newsforce) July 26, 2026
The medical examiner’s full findings on the exact cause of Murphy’s death have not been made public in the reporting available so far. Prosecutors will likely need that evidence, along with any accident reconstruction analysis, to prove the backing-up movement directly caused her death rather than just the initial impact.
A Pattern Families Are Tired of Seeing
Cases like this one keep surfacing in local news across the country: a driver without a valid license, without legal status, and a family left burying a loved one. Murphy’s family is now fighting for justice, according to reporting on the case, joining a growing list of American families demanding accountability after tragedies tied to lax immigration enforcement and unchecked driving privileges.
Florida officials are proceeding with the felony charge while immigration authorities pursue their own detainers, a dual-track process that reflects how seriously both state and federal officials are treating this case. Until the full crash file and medical findings become public, the core facts already on record remain deeply troubling on their own.
Sources:
thegatewaypundit.com, foxnews.com, sa14.fl.gov
