By Camilo Fonseca Globe Staff,Updated January 2, 2026, 5:28 p.m.
New Bedford police on Friday said they had found the vehicle involved in a fatal hit-and-run crash in the early hours of New Year’s Day that killed a mother of three.
Nicolasa Ventura Colaj, 33, was exiting a church gathering at 1805 Acushnet Ave just after midnight when she was struckl by an SUV, according to the Bristol district attorney’s office. That vehicle was “identified, located, and seized” later Thursday afternoon, police said on social media.
Police on Friday did not identify the vehicle’s owner, but said finding it was a “critical breakthrough” in the case.
“We are continuing to piece together the events that took place during this terrible tragedy and anticipate that justice will be served swiftly,” police said in the statement.
It’s not clear if the suspect is still at-large. New Bedford police deferred further comment to the Bristol district attorney’s office, as did Massachusetts State Police. The district attorney’s office did not return requests for comment on Friday.
Ventura Colaj, like many of the city’s immigrant workers, worked at a local fish house, according to Adrian Ventura, executive director of the New-Bedford-based Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores. She was originally from Guatemala,he said.
Officials said she was thrown some distance from the impact and later pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the hospital.
