A Burlington woman is being held in the Alamance County jail without bond after being charged with second-degree murder in a fatal crash that killed a Southeast High School senior last week.
Tracey Ann Hernandez, 38, white, female, of 127 Bannockburn Run, Burlington, is charged with 10 other offenses in addition to second-degree murder in the crash that killed Lily Rose Hahn, 18, of Snow Camp, according to the court files.
Hahn had been scheduled to graduate from Southeast four days later, on Friday, June 6, and had been planning to attend Alamance Community College before going on to earn a teaching degree, according to the funeral home that handled her final arrangements.
Alamance County chief district court judge Kathryn (“Katie”) Overby ordered Hernandez to be held in the Alamance County jail without bond after her first appearance in district court on Monday.
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The arrest warrant, served on Friday, June 6, alleges that Hernandez was driving while impaired when she crossed the center line on N.C. Highway 87 and fatally collided with a vehicle reportedly driven by Hahn. (The arrest warrant doesn’t specify what time the crash occurred, though multiple media outlets have reported it as having occurred shortly after 12:00 midnight on June 2.)
Hernandez is also charged with:
- One count of felony serious injury by vehicle for allegedly causing a head injury and/or other possible injuries to her five-year-old child while driving impaired;
- Four counts of felony negligent child abuse resulting in serious physical injury to her four children (two sets of twins, ages three and five), all of whom were in the car when she crossed over the center line on N.C. Highway 87, killing Hahn;
- Driving while impaired (no blood alcohol content is currently specified in the court file);
- Driving left of center;
- And multiple traffic infractions, including reckless driving; failure to wear a seat belt; failure to maintain lane control; and four counts of failure to properly restrain a child in the rear seat.
Hernandez was also charged with driving with a revoked license in the crash that killed Hahn just days before she was to have graduated from Southeast High School.
The revocation followed a separate incident in which Hernadez was charged with DWI earlier this year while traveling eastbound on I-40 in a white 2021 Honda minivan in Orange County.
According to the citation, Hernandez drove through construction barrels in a work zone and collided with an unmarked Orange County sheriff’s patrol car while it was stopped, with its blue lights flashing, at 11:43 p.m. on Wednesday, February 5, 2025, according to the court file. That charge remains pending in Orange County.
Hernandez allegedly “had a strong odor of alcohol on [her] breath” and had admitted to drinking tequila but couldn’t remember the crash, according to the citation. She told the state trooper who issued the citation that she was going home to Burlington, which the trooper noted was in the opposite direction of travel.
A subsequent report from the State Crime Laboratory in Raleigh confirmed that Hernandez had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.19, nearly three times the legal limit, at the time of the crash in Orange County on February 5.
In addition to DWI, Hernandez was charged with reckless driving and failing to maintain lane control following the crash along I-40 in Orange County in February.
An Orange County assistant clerk of superior court entered an order revoking Hernandez’s license on April 28, following a hearing for which the defendant wasn’t present, according to the Orange County court file.
Hernandez is currently scheduled to appear in Alamance County district court on June 30.
