CHESAPEAKE, VA. (WAVY) – After being released on bond earlier this year, 19-year-old Synclair Mayes appeared in a Chesapeake courtroom on Sept. 16th. Mayes is charged with involuntary manslaughter for the death of 60-year-old Guadalupe Rivera.
Teen charged in Chesapeake crash that killed landscaper
On May 29, 2026, Mayes was reportedly driving around 90 miles per hour down Johnstown Road in Chesapeake, where the speed limit is 35 miles per hour. Witnesses say Mayes was swerving in and out of traffic.
As another car was turning onto the road, Mayes struck the vehicle. Mayes’s car then left the roadway, striking and killing Rivera, who was working a landscaping job along the sidewalk.
“He didn’t do anything wrong. He wasn’t a bad guy. He was just working,” said Rivera’s son, Guadalupe Magallan Jr., “he didn’t deserve it.”…