Cynthia Ferguson has been living a mother’s nightmare for the last seven months.
It began in the late hours of Dec. 5, 2025, when the Metropolitan Police Department said her son, Ruben Ibarra, was struck and killed by a driver in a central Las Vegas Valley crosswalk.
Ibarra, 25, was rushed to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center where he later died. The driver, inside a light-colored SUV, sped off into the night.
Seven months later, police said no arrests have been made in connection with Ibarra’s death.
Ibarra’s death and his family’s lengthy wait for closure are not uncommon. Fatal hit-and-runs like the one that killed Ibarra spiked in Las Vegas after 2020 and have trended upward ever since, Metro data shows.
What remains of Ferguson’s firstborn son rests in a memorial necklace adorned with green gems and a golden urn stored in a Henderson trailer where she and her mother, Carla Ferguson, live. The two have been left angry and sorrowful without closure to Ibarra’s death.
“I never thought I would ever have to lose a kid before I died. It’s hard,” a tearful Cynthia Ferguson said. “I raised this kid to be an adult, and for someone just to come and take him? I have so many memories with him, and then he’s just, poof, gone.”
‘How could you just hurt somebody?’
Cynthia and Carla Ferguson remember Ibarra as a kind and helpful handyman with a love of soccer.
He was his high school soccer team’s captain in California whose talents were only held back by his asthma, Cynthia Ferguson, 43, said.
Ibarra wanted to enter the construction industry, a desire rooted in a toy toolkit he received as a child, according to Carla Ferguson, 63.
Cynthia Ferguson said Ibarra was homeless in the half-year preceding his death as a result of him not listening to his father and grandmother’s house rules. But even when he didn’t have much, Ferguson said Ibarra was more than willing to assist others.
“He’ll help anybody (and) give the shirt off of his back if he could,” she said.
Carla Ferguson said she was the first to receive the news of Ibarra’s death. She said dialing her daughter about it was “the worst thing I had to do.” Cynthia Ferguson said she felt the same way about telling her three other children, two of whom are adults, about the collision.
“We all make mistakes. We’re all humans. But, I mean, how could you just hurt somebody and then not care and just go on with your life like nothing (happened)?” she asked. “How could you live with yourself for doing that?”
A deadly trend
There were 33 hit-and-run fatalities in Metro’s jurisdiction last year, the most in any year since at least 2018, which is the earliest year of traffic data available on Metro’s website. Of those cases, 10 remained open by the end of 2025.
On average, about one-third of Metro’s fatal hit-and-run cases since 2018 had not been closed by the end of the year in which the collision occurred. Between 2020 and 2024, only 25 percent of those open cases were closed by the end of the year after the crash took place.
Cases can close in several ways, including when arrests are made or police lack enough information to bring charges against a suspect.
The reasons why fatal hit-and-runs go unsolved are unclear. A Metro spokesperson declined a request for an interview on the topic with a detective on the department’s collision investigation section.
On a phone call about three months ago, Carla Ferguson said a Metro officer told her of Ibarra’s case, “It’s been too long, and they’re not going to be able to find them (the driver).” She added that her daughter calls and emails Metro weekly, outreach that is met with silence.
Cynthia Ferguson is mad about the lack of arrest in her son’s death. She said surveillance cameras near Flamingo and Mojave Roads, where Ibarra was struck, should have offered ample clues about the SUV and its driver.
“I need to know what happened to my son,” Cynthia Ferguson said. “Whoever did it needs to pay for it. It’s not OK.”
Metro’s news release about the collision that killed Ibarra urged anyone with information about the incident to call them at 702-828-3786 or, to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555, visit www.crimestoppersofnv.com or use the mobile app “P3.”
Cynthia and Carla Ferguson pleaded for community members to do the same.
“We need some closure to be able to go on for the rest of our days,” Cynthia Ferguson said. “Nobody has no idea what it feels like to lose a child and have to live every single day without your child in your life. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.”
Contact Spencer Levering at slevering@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0253.
