5 minNews
Woman held 13 days after license plate camera error says charges dropped
A Florida woman spent 13 days in jail on eight felony charges after automated license plate reader data linked her black Dodge Durango to a fatal crash. Prosecutors later dropped all charges and arrested another woman.
Lindsey Brooke Isaacs was asleep at home when police arrived and told the 23-year-old that her car had been involved in a crash that killed three people. She knew they had the wrong person. Her black Dodge Durango showed no obvious collision damage, and she had a receipt showing where she had been. Still, the investigation eventually led to her arrest and 13 days in jail.
Months later, prosecutors dropped all eight felony charges against her, and investigators arrested another woman in connection with the crash. Her case now raises a broader question about how much weight investigators should give license plate camera data when a person's freedom is on the line.
The deadly crash happened on Oct. 4, 2025, along eastbound Interstate 4 near DeBary, Florida. Motorcyclist Joaquin Deno died. Flagler County Deputy Administrator Jorge Salinas and his wife, Nancy Salinas, also died. Witnesses reported that a Dodge Durango was involved.
Investigators found Isaacs's black Dodge Durango through a Flock automated license plate reader. The camera recorded her vehicle traveling eastbound near the Seminole and Volusia county line at 9:51 p.m. That camera was about three miles west of the crash scene. The crash happened around 9:53 p.m.
That timing became especially important later. Isaacs's attorney, Patrick McGeehan, said his team performed a time-distance analysis and concluded Isaacs was already beyond the crash location when the collision occurred. The camera did capture Isaacs's vehicle, but the problem came from what investigators concluded from that sighting.
Isaacs put it bluntly during an interview. "They just picked up my car off a camera and called it the end of the day. We got her."
The Flock camera hit was far from the only information investigators had. A 911 caller described a maroon Dodge Durango and provided part of its license plate number. Later, investigators also found red or maroon paint transfer on a Ford Focus involved in the crash. Isaacs drove a black Dodge Durango.
A specialized Florida Highway Patrol team later inspected Isaacs's vehicle and reported finding no damage suggesting it had been involved in a collision with another vehicle. That finding lined up with what Isaacs said she had been telling investigators from the beginning. "Where is the damage on the vehicle?" she recalled asking police. "Because I'm standing right in front of it and I don't see any damage."
Still, authorities impounded her SUV. Months passed. On April 17, 2026, Isaacs got a call from her attorney. She had to surrender that day. She faced eight felony charges: three counts of vehicular homicide, three counts of leaving the scene of a crash involving death, leaving the scene involving serious bodily injury and reckless driving causing serious bodily injury.
Isaacs spent 13 days in jail. She described spending her first several days in solitary confinement, with a toilet, a sink and a metal sleeping slab covered by a thin mat. Her charges were so serious, she said, that jail officials initially kept her separated from other people. After her first bond hearing, she remained behind bars. "I was devastated, I was scared," she said. "I thought my life was over."
The case finally began moving in a different direction after prosecutors and a specialized Florida Highway Patrol team took another look. That team found no meaningful crash damage on Isaacs's Durango. Investigators revisited witness information and followed evidence pointing toward another vehicle.
On May 22, the State Attorney's Office formally declined to prosecute Isaacs on all eight charges. Authorities then arrested Alisa Lee Montalvo on charges connected to the crash. Prosecutors allege Montalvo was driving a maroon Dodge Durango. She faces nine charges, including three counts of vehicular homicide and tampering with physical evidence. She has not been convicted, and the charges remain allegations.
For Isaacs, the news brought enormous relief. "I felt like a new woman," she said. "I felt free." She said she later received an apology from the head of the Florida Highway Patrol. "It felt like a miracle," she said. "Another miracle from God that I was hearing it in person, face to face."
However, she also said the experience left lasting emotional and physical effects. "This took and is going to take maybe years to get better mentally, physically, emotionally," Isaacs said. She has since filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against two Florida Highway Patrol troopers involved in the investigation, alleging false arrest, wrongful imprisonment and malicious prosecution.
