Mother Of Hit-And-Run Victim Speaks About Pain Of Losing Teen Daughter

SANTA CLARITA  (CBSLA.com)  —  The mother of a teen fatally struck in a hit-and-run accident in Canyon Country spoke out Wednesday night about her pain and grief.

Claire Wickhorst is comforted by family. The pain of losing her daughter is crippling, she told CBS2's Elsa Ramon.

Desiree Lawson, 15, was killed by a hit-and-run driver on Monday night around 8:30 p.m.

Deputies said she was struck  on Sierra Highway just south of Soledad Road in Canyon Country.

"You're not supposed to bury your children. They're supposed to bury you," Wickhorst said.

The teen's mother wants people to know, her daughter was not homeless -- just a troubled teen, who she pleaded with to come home, after the girl left the confines of a group home.

"She got involved with some bad people," Wickhorst says, "There were people  here who loved her and begged her to come back."

Wickhorst says even though her daughter had been on the run since September, the teen always checked in, and promised she would come home for Christmas. Instead, GoFundMe page is set up for her funeral after someone left her for dead.

The teen's mother has a message for the driver who left her on the road.

""Take responsibility. She was not a throwaway. We are devastated this is how she comes back home," said Wickhorst.

The grieving mom told Ramon that her daughter dreamed of being a social worker so that she could help troubled youth.