Mother, Son Tried to Flee Country After Fatal Drag Racing Crash in Woodbridge, Police Say

Authorities arrested a Staten Island mother and son outside Miami, accusing them of trying to flee the country after the son’s role in a deadly drag racing crash on the Garden State Parkway in Woodbridge earlier this summer.

The crash happened June 29 around 7:04 p.m. in the southbound lanes near mile marker 130.

Police say 20-year-old Alvi Limani was racing a BMW X3 against a BMW M5 driven by 23-year-old Jeter Ogando of Perth Amboy. Limani lost control, hit two other cars, and rolled multiple times. The crash ejected passengers Albion Hysenaj, 20, and another 20-year-old man, both from Staten Island. Hysenaj died at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, while the other man suffered serious injuries.

A third passenger, Emily Harrington, 19, remained inside the BMW along with Limani. Neither was injured, but both fled the scene on foot, police said.

Investigators determined Limani and his mother, 42-year-old Vilma Vneshta — a Staten Island hairstylist — later attempted to leave the country. Miami-Dade Sheriff’s deputies arrested them July 17 in North Miami. Authorities held them for three weeks before extraditing them to New Jersey on Aug. 6. A TikTok video shows the pair in handcuffs and leg shackles being led off a plane in Miami.

The Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office charged Limani with multiple counts, including:

First-degree aggravated manslaughter
Second-degree vehicular homicide
Second-degree knowingly leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death
Third-degree causing death while driving with a suspended license
Multiple counts of third-degree endangering and hindering
Fourth-degree assault by auto and causing serious injury while driving with a suspended license

Vneshta faces a third-degree hindering charge.

Ogando, whose car did not crash, faces charges of second-degree vehicular homicide, third-degree endangering, and fourth-degree assault by auto. Harrington faces third-degree hindering, fourth-degree obstruction, and fourth-degree conspiracy to endanger another.

New Jersey State Police from the Holmdel barracks led the investigation, using “various investigative means” to track the suspects to Florida.

Authorities urge anyone with additional information or surveillance footage to call the Holmdel Station Criminal Investigation Office at 732-441-4500 ext. 7425, or the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office at 732-745-3140.