Two teenage boys, inseparable best friends, were hanging out together the night of Sept. 3, 2024 when they got a call from the younger one’s mother: It was a school night, she reminded her son.
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The teens then each got on a mini motorcycle, riding from the older boy’s residence in Williamsburg south along International Drive towards the younger boy’s home in Dr. Phillips.
At an intersection about two miles from the home, they were struck by a Jeep Compass driven by a man with a long history of driving offenses. The driver then fled the scene.
Ashley Nielsen, 15, suffered brain damage and died at a hospital several days later. Troy De Leon, then 14, needed surgery and a metal rod and screws to repair a badly broken leg and still struggles with “major survivor’s guilt,” his mother says.
The driver, Dennis Trost, now 60, was later charged — not with causing the fatal accident but with the less serious offense of fleeing.
In June, Trost made a deal with prosecutors, pleading no contest to leaving the scene of a crash with death and leaving the scene of a crash with serious bodily injuries in exchange for a sentence of three years in prison.
The deal infuriated the teenagers’ families, who believe police failed to thoroughly investigate Trost immediately after the accident, when DUI testing could have been conducted, and prosecutors failed to seek even the so-called minimum prison term. The charges he pleaded to carry a maximum sentence of 45 years and a “mandatory minimum” of four years.
And now Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has weighed in, adding that case to his ongoing list of instances where he insists Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell has allowed “miscarriages of justice.”
Worrell, however, says prosecutors struck the deal because they feared there was not much evidence to convict Trost and that he might be acquitted if the case went to trial. Her office seeks “justice with integrity,” she said.
That’s little comfort to Allan Dadetto, Ashley’s grandfather, who said his grandson, a freshman at Orlando Science High School with a keen interest in marine biology, was compassionate, smart and hardworking, with a bright future ahead of him that was ripped away.
“We’re the victims once, now we’re victims again…there was no justice done here,” he said. “I think Ashley’s life was worth more than three years.”
Ashley’s younger brother, now 9, still struggles with the death of the boy he looked up to, and his younger sister, just a few weeks old at the time of the crash, will grow up never knowing her eldest brother.
The boy’s mother, Vanessa Martinez, said she felt like the criminal justice system failed her son, and denounced Trost for leaving Ashley to die.
“I will never know if him providing assistance would make a difference…because he left him,” she said tearfully. “The fact that he just showed no remorse…even if this was an accident, I think that a human being would want to apologize for their actions.”
Troy’s mother, Valencia De Leon, also blasted the deal and the way the Florida Highway Patrol handled the crash investigation.
“Inadequate, biased and absent investigative efforts have now unjustly led to a generous 3-year plea deal for the defendant,” she wrote in a letter to Orange County Circuit Judge Michael Kraynick prior to Trost’s June 1 sentencing.
“We as the victims feel unseen, unheard and unjustly ignored…We are utterly appalled and outraged in the direction this case is headed,” she wrote.
Both mothers and Troy spoke during Trost’s sentencing hearing, unsuccessfully urging Kraynick to reject the plea deal. Trost is now an inmate at the Tomoka Work Camp in Daytona Beach.
Uthmeier cited the case in a July 1 letter to Worrell that criticized her for what he called “lenient” sentences backed by her office. He said the teens’ case, among others, reflected decisions by her office that “are putting the people of Florida at risk,” a complaint the Republican attorney general has lodged repeatedly since voters returned Worrell, a Democrat, to office nearly two years ago.
Worrell, however, said Uthmeier is again trying to score political points using a case he doesn’t understand. Trost’s plea deal was the best way to ensure some measure of accountability, she said.
Prosecutors noted, for example, that Trost might not have faced any charges had he remained at the scene of the accident and that who was at fault for the crash — Trost or the teens — could not be determined, according to their case notes requested and obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.
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“Had this case gone to trial, a reasonable jury could have found the defendant not guilty based on the lack of evidence,” Worrell said. “Our hearts are with the victim’s family and loved ones. No decision can undo their loss. But our duty is to follow the law, carefully weigh the facts and seek justice with integrity.”
Right after the crash, FHP said Trost, driving a 2016 Jeep, was traveling northbound on I-Drive, approaching the intersection of Parc Corniche Drive, which was equipped with a traffic light, as the two teens entered the intersection.
Trost made a left turn onto Parc Corniche, into the condominiums where he lived, and the right side of his Jeep collided with the front of the two mini-motorcycles.
Police records don’t make clear who had a green light. However, an FHP report says Trost caused the crash when he failed to yield the right of way when turning.
Witnesses told FHP troopers the Jeep ran over both teens. Troopers discovered the Jeep, registered to Trost, parked at the condominium and found it had substantial damage, consistent with the crash.
Troopers knocked on Trost’s room door, but it was locked and no one answered. They didn’t speak with him until they returned with a warrant signed by a judge about 12 hours after the crash. That’s a key reason why prosecutors say there wasn’t a lot of evidence against him, the notes show.
The victims’ families believe Trost, who had been returning from a restaurant when the crash occurred, was drunk at the time.
But there is no evidence of that, prosecutors said. “The lack of any DUI investigation, made impossible by the 12 hours that passed after the crash, and the lack of any breath or blood sample showing alcohol or drugs in the Defendant’s system, made it impossible to prove that the Defendant was impaired at the time of the crash,” their notes say.
Trost has a past conviction of reckless driving and a lengthy history of civil traffic infractions, including careless driving, speeding, running a stop sign and running a red light, court records show. His defense attorney declined to comment for this story.
Prosecutors also said they could not prove that the teens were visible to Trost when he made his turn at the intersection, the notes show. Traffic camera video from minutes before the crash showed the pair drove dark-colored motorbikes, were wearing dark clothing, and that it was dark and raining.
The FHP report on the crash also said both victims committed traffic violations, as they did not have lights on their mini-motorcycles and were both driving without licenses, as they were too young to be issued them.
Their families deny those allegations and say investigators did not move quickly to get Trost’s receipt from the restaurant nor take pursuing a criminal case against him seriously.
FHP said its investigation was thorough, and that it’s difficult to conduct DUI investigations after a driver has fled the scene. When troopers did contact Trost, they did not find anything that showed he was impaired at the time of the crash, the agency said Friday.
Now, the families are furious prosecutors agreed to a sentence for Trost that was below the mandatory minimum.
“They did not do their job,” said De Leon. “It’s just like of all prosecutors to be assigned, we got the worst…he should be a public defender, he should not be on a prosecution.”
Prosecutors gave Trost a three-year sentence because there was no evidence of impairment, and the law allows defendants charged with such offenses to be sentenced to less than the mandatory minimum, the prosecutors’ notes show.
De Leon said her son was lucky to survive but still struggles with his injury and guilt.
“He always said it should have been me,” she said.
Martinez said she mourns for Ashley but tries to enjoy the time with her other children. Her young daughter reminds her of her older son.
“I have a strong feeling they’re going to be quite similar as she gets older …. I’ll have that memory of him through her.”
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