Tri-Cities man found dead. He is suspected of crashing car and leaving badly hurt woman

A Richland man suspected of crashing a stolen car and running, leaving a severely injured woman behind, has been found dead, according to the Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office.

The body of Fernando Flores, 28, of Richland, was found Saturday in tall grass and thick brush six days after the crash on Nelson Siding Road near Interstate 90 between Easton and Cle Elum, Washington.

Flores was driving a stolen car when he crashed Aug. 13. He and Jose Garza ran and left a 27-year-old woman injured in the back seat, according to the Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office.

Flores had recently been released from prison for robbery and is a known gang member, according to the sheriff’s office. Evidence of drugs and guns were found in the car.

People living in Kittitas County reported seeing Flores and Garza try to enter homes or cars after the Aug. 13 crash. Garza was caught and arrested, according to the sheriff’s office.

Flores’s family said he called them on Sunday night to report he was injured near a river and could not move.

Law enforcement was able to trace his cell phone location to an area near the Yakima River across I-90 from the crash scene and not far from exit 74.

Flores’s body was found Saturday by deputies working with Kittitas County Search and Rescue dogs and their handlers.

Kittitas County law enforcement officials said that given Flores’ criminal history and suspecting he had a gun, the dogs were not used to find him until “all likelihood of danger was past.”

He appeared to have died from his injuries.

The woman who was injured in the crash was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and has since been released from its critical care unit. She is expected to recover, according to the Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office.

Her name has not been released.