A man has been charged in the hit-and-run death of Erin Vance after turning himself into police on Monday.

Ottawa police said 23-year-old Jeremy Rees of Ottawa is charged with criminal negligence causing death, impaired driving and failure to remain at the scene of an accident which happened in Constance Bay Sunday morning.

He's is scheduled to appear in Ottawa court on Tuesday.

"Those are the most serious charges you can face under the Criminal Code when it comes a collision between a vehicle and a pedestrian," said Const. Marc Soucy of the Ottawa police.

An Ottawa Fire Services engineer who lives near the Bayview Drive crash scene said the driver of a car that crashed into a tree had fled the area on foot.

Vance, 26, was killed while walking home from a St. Patrick's Day party with her boyfriend.

Flowers were placed at the site of the crash on Monday.

"She was only 26 and it's a total senseless loss we can't process," said her aunt Wendy Doyle.

"It's not going to bring Erin back, I don't think there is a lot of satisfaction in that for us, but of course we don't want the person who killed Erin to walk the streets and do it to someone else."

This is not the first fatal crash involving a pedestrian on this stretch of road.

Andrew Weeks was 28 when he was killed by a drunk driver in 2005.

Area councillor Eli El-Chantiry said he can relate to the pain the families are going through.

"Losing my mom to a drunk driver, you never forget that, because you can always say I could have had my mom if it didn't happen to her," he said.

"Roads don't kill people, people kill people; you can do all the safety in the road and you'll still hear of tragic accidents."

Doyle said the family is focusing on caring for Vance's five-year-old twins Liam and Caleb, who are being looked after by their grandparents.

"She was a passionate person, and a very kind person," Doyle said. "Fantastic mother, she loved her boys and was very involved with them in every aspect of their lives."

A memorial fund has been set up in Erin's name at Scotiabank locations. You can also mail donations to:

Erin Vance Memorial Fund

c/o Wendy Doyle

20 Kingsford Cr Kanata K2K 1T4

With a report from CTV Ottawa's Vanessa Lee