BAKERSFIELD, CA - It has been three years since a Bakersfield teenager was hit and killed behind a local hospital.
Police say 16-year-old Victoria Peterson was walking to school when she was hit by a car in a service alley at Bakersfield Heart Hospital.
"She was my best friend. She knew me better than anybody else," said Erin Peterson, mother.
Peterson held back her tears Friday afternoon as she talked about the anniversary of her daughter's death.
"This anniversary has been the worst for me, personally. I think it's starting to sink in that she's gone," said Peterson.
Police say the teenager was walking to school when a white pickup truck left the parking lot.
"The eyewitness said it was a woman, old enough to have children of her own. I don't understand how a mother or a woman could hit a child and not stop or not care. No regard for human life," Peterson said.
But in 2011, police said it was possible the woman didn't know she hit anyone, due to the size of the truck and the possibility that the sun may have been in her eyes.
"You know, she was approximately 120 pounds. How could you miss that? That really upsets me, doesn't make any sense the police would think that."
Police say three years later, the investigation is still ongoing and there are no suspects.
Peterson says her daughter would have been 20 years old in April. She never imagined her little girl would miss out on her future.
"When it was time for her to graduate high school, that was really tough. She has a cousin that's in the same grade, same school, and she graduated and Victoria didn't. She was in the process of getting her drivers license, that never happened. She had her first job interview, never had her first job," Peterson continued.
If you have any information on this case, call the Bakersfield Police Department at 327-7111.