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Dreams of New York end as crash kill USF student

By KEVIN GRAHAM
Published January 25, 2005

TAMPA - Rikki Leigh Lewis loved to accessorize.

"Under every successful woman was a great pair of shoes," she once told her mother.

The 21-year-old University of South Florida student's dream of one day living in New York City and owning a pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes died Sunday when she was killed in a car accident.

Tampa police said Lewis was driving east on Fowler Avenue in a 2000 GMC SUV around 5:35 p.m., when Tracie Ann Elder violated the right of way and turned onto Fowler from N 51st Street.

Lewis swerved to avoid hitting Elder's 2001 Honda SUV, but she lost control of her vehicle and it rolled over, said police spokeswoman Laura McElroy. Lewis was thrown from the GMC, and she died at the scene.

"She was a light in everybody's life," her mother, Gwen Lewis, said Monday from her home in Davie. "There wasn't a person she didn't touch in the world that she knew, who didn't love her. I've had hundreds of people walk through my door and say the same thing."

Rikki Lewis, named after her father, Rickey, would have graduated from USF in May with a bachelor's degree in business marketing, her mother said. She was a Sun Doll during her freshman and sophomore years and a National Collegiate Honor Society member. She had interned at a Clearwater law firm and most recently worked at Quiet Flight Surf Shop at International Plaza mall.

Rikki Lewis planned to begin graduate school in the fall to get her MBA. But first, she wanted to take a trip to California with her 18-year-old brother, Kristofer Lewis, their mother said.

He graduates from high school this year, and big sister Rikki wanted to celebrate their accomplishments together, Gwen Lewis said.

She had tried unsuccessfully to get in touch with her daughter on Sunday when she received a phone call from Rikki's boyfriend about the accident.

Police said Elder, the driver who pulled out in front of Rikki Lewis, slowed down after seeing the GMC roll over, then sped off. Witnesses followed her to get the tag number, then returned to the scene and gave the information to police. Officers tracked down Elder, then placed her under arrest at the police station near Busch Gardens, jail records show.

Elder, a 32-year-old housekeeper who lives at 21841 Hale Road in Land O'Lakes, is charged with one count of leaving the scene of a fatal crash. Jail records show she was released from the Orient Road jail early Monday after posting $7,500 bail.

Rikki Lewis' family has set up a memorial in her honor in Fort Lauderdale for abused children, an issue her mother said she'd been passionate about all her life.

A fan of the HBO series Sex and the City , Rikki idolized actor Sarah Jessica Parker and the Carrie Bradshaw character she played on the show. The first time Rikki visited New York City, she arrived in Times Square, overwhelmed, her mother said.

"She started crying, and she turned around and looked at me," Gwen Lewis said. "She said, "Mom. It's my New York."'

In addition to her parents and brother, Rikki leaves behind a 14-year-old sister, Paige. All of them live in Davie.

--Times Staff Writer Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler contributed to this story. Kevin Graham can be reached at 813 226-3433 or kgraham@sptimes.com

[Last modified January 25, 2005, 01:20:09]