Donald Crayton also received 15 years of extended supervision after pleading guilty in the 2024 crash that killed Zekani Hymes-Wilson.

MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Donald Crayton, 33, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for a 2024 Milwaukee hit-and-run that killed 4-year-old Zekani Hymes-Wilson and seriously injured her mother, Gloria Hymes. Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Laura Crivello also imposed 15 years of extended supervision and ordered Crayton not to drive again. Court records show he pleaded guilty to second-degree reckless homicide, hit-and-run involving death and hit-and-run involving great bodily harm.

The sentence closes the main criminal case against Crayton more than two years after Hymes and her daughter were struck while crossing North Teutonia Avenue to get pizza near their apartment. The collision was captured on surveillance video, and prosecutors said Crayton, who was Hymes’ live-in boyfriend at the time, stopped nearby after the impact, ran back toward the victims with his sister and then returned to his car and drove away. Zekani died at the scene despite a police officer’s efforts to revive her. Hymes survived with serious injuries. The criminal complaint places the crash at about 11:25 a.m. April 30, 2024, in the 6900 block of North Teutonia Avenue. Investigators said video showed Hymes and Zekani walking from the direction of their apartment, crossing a frontage road and median and then entering the traffic lanes. A black four-door car traveling north struck both pedestrians. The complaint said the driver continued a short distance, stopped in a parking lot and got out with a female passenger. Both ran toward the victims. About a minute later, the man identified as the driver ran back to the car and left, while the passenger remained.

The woman who stayed was later identified by investigators as Crayton’s sister, Destiny Crayton. She went with Hymes in the ambulance, according to the complaint. At Froedtert Hospital, Hymes told police that the driver shown in security-camera stills was “Don,” the man she was dating and living with, and she later identified him as Donald Crayton. She also identified the black Chevrolet Impala in the images as his vehicle. The complaint said Hymes had fractures to her right tibia, fibula and femur, along with other injuries. Zekani, who was 4, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police then worked from the physical evidence and surveillance images to identify and locate the car. A crash reconstruction officer reported finding vehicle debris on Teutonia Avenue, including pieces with part numbers consistent with a Chevrolet Impala. Investigators also found a camera image of a black Impala with a license plate registered to Crayton at the same address where Hymes and Zekani lived. Later that day, an officer was directed to railroad tracks near West Calumet Road, where police found a damaged 2019 Impala matching the suspect vehicle. The complaint said a piece recovered from the crash scene appeared to fit the damaged front of the car.

The abandoned Impala became another link in the case. Investigators said paperwork inside the vehicle carried Crayton’s name, and latent prints lifted from the exterior driver-side window frame were identified as his. By then, officers were searching for him elsewhere. Undercover police later saw Crayton riding in a Hyundai Tucson driven by Adriana Merkel. When officers tried to stop the Tucson, prosecutors said Merkel fled, beginning a 5.1-mile pursuit that reached speeds of up to 90 mph on city streets. The chase ended when the Tucson crashed in Wauwatosa. Merkel was arrested in the vehicle, while Crayton ran before officers caught him on foot.

Merkel later told investigators that Crayton had called her upset and said he could not live with what was on his conscience, according to the complaint. She said he asked her to drive him around so he could get clothes because he needed to leave, and told her that police had found his car. Merkel described Crayton as her boyfriend. The complaint said she initially told investigators Crayton had not directed her to flee police, but later said he told her to keep going during the pursuit. Merkel ultimately pleaded guilty to fleeing an officer and received three years of probation in July 2026; a reckless-endangerment charge against her was dismissed as part of her plea deal.

Crayton’s driving history became a central issue at sentencing. The 2024 complaint, citing court and state transportation records, said he had never been issued a driver’s license and that his driving privilege was suspended when Zekani and Hymes were hit. The records listed an operating-while-suspended conviction tied to a 2015 incident, a 2019 felony conviction for operating while suspended causing death in a separate 2018 crash, and another operating-while-suspended conviction tied to a 2022 incident. FOX6 reported that Crayton served 10 months in jail and later received three years of probation for the earlier fatal-driving conviction. That history shaped Crivello’s response when Crayton expressed remorse in court. Law&Crime reported that the judge noted he had offered similar statements during sentencing in the earlier fatal case and questioned whether his words were matched by changed behavior. “I don’t know if I buy the remorse,” Crivello said. The 20-year prison term was paired with 15 years of extended supervision, making the court’s sentence a 35-year period of incarceration and supervision. The judge also ordered Crayton never to drive again, according to FOX6 and Law&Crime.

Crayton’s plea resolved three of the charges against him: second-degree reckless homicide, hit-and-run involving death and hit-and-run involving great bodily harm. Other counts, including knowingly operating while suspended causing death, knowingly operating while suspended causing great bodily harm, obstructing an officer and soliciting someone to flee an officer, were dismissed. Law&Crime reported that those dismissed charges were read in at sentencing, allowing the court to consider the conduct described in them when imposing punishment. The plea meant there was no trial on the 2024 collision, although the criminal complaint, surveillance evidence and driving record formed the public account of what happened. The case also drew public grief in Milwaukee in the days after Zekani’s death. Family and friends held a vigil, and relatives described a child who was affectionate, playful and close to her family. A published obituary said Zekani was born in Milwaukee in 2019 and enjoyed dolls, drawing, painting and time with relatives and friends. Her mother was still hospitalized when the vigil was held in early May 2024. Those details stood apart from the court record’s focus on charges, evidence and driving history, showing the loss at the center of a case that later became a sentencing dispute over accountability and repeated conduct behind the wheel.

The record also shows why the hit-and-run counts remained important even though Crayton stopped briefly after the collision. Prosecutors alleged that he did not stay at the scene, provide the required identifying information or remain to render reasonable assistance. The surveillance account described his return to the victims as lasting only about a minute before he ran back to the Impala. His sister stayed behind and later accompanied Hymes to the hospital. That sequence distinguished the immediate crash from the later decision to leave and became part of the conduct addressed by the guilty pleas. The sentencing did not resolve every question that investigators explored in the early stages. FOX6 reported that a search warrant showed police had examined whether the collision might have been intentional. The final disposition, however, was a guilty plea to second-degree reckless homicide and the two hit-and-run offenses, not an intentional-homicide conviction. No verified material reviewed for this report establishes that Crayton deliberately struck Hymes and Zekani, and the criminal complaint included his sister’s statement that he swerved in an effort to avoid them.

With Crayton sentenced and Merkel’s case resolved, the major criminal proceedings arising from the crash have reached their sentencing stage. Crayton has been sentenced to 20 years in prison and faces 15 years of extended supervision afterward. The record reviewed for this report does not identify any further scheduled hearing in his case. The court’s order barring him from driving remains part of the sentence reported by local news organizations.

Author note: Last updated Sept. 8, 2026.