SUSPECT ARRESTED IN FATAL HIT-RUN.

Byline: BRAD A. GREENBERG Staff Writer

A Winnetka man suspected of killing two teenagers in a ``horrific'' hit-and-run collision that carried one of the victims for six miles on the roof of a minivan remained in custody Friday.

Enrique Hernandez, 23, was arrested Thursday at a Canoga Park laundromat after CHP investigators linked him to a van abandoned near the Inland Empire city of Desert Hot Springs, authorities said.

The victims, Samantha Schattler and Tracey Nelson, both 16, were arguing on the shoulder of Highway 62 about 3 a.m. Thursday when Hernandez veered off the road, CHP Officer Joe Zagorski said.

Nelson died at the scene. Schattler, his girlfriend, was flung onto the van's roof rack and found 3 1/2 hours later by a passing motorist, still on top of the abandoned vehicle.

``It was a horrific accident,'' Zagorski said. ``What you see at a collision like that ... it was one of the worst I have seen.''

He declined to provide additional information about the crash and the suspect.

The portion of the unlit four-lane highway where the crash occurred is in a remote area of San Bernardino County near Joshua Tree National Park. It was unclear whether Hernandez saw Schattler and Nelson.

Zagorski said he could not speak to this case, but that in past hit-and-run crashes the drivers generally knew they hit something.

Hernandez was questioned at the Woodland Hills office of the California Highway Patrol. He was not the van's owner but reportedly admitted driving it.

He is being held at the Central Detention Center in San Bernardino on suspicion of felony hit-and-run and vehicular manslaughter.

A search of Los Angeles County court and state prison records revealed no prior convictions.

Staff Writer Melissa Pinion-Whitt contributed to this report.

brad.greenberg(at)dailynews.com

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