Hit-Run Victim Had Fought to Improve Life : Tragedy: Family says woman’s 5-year-old daughter, who was in disabled car when mother was struck, is in shock.

Yvette Villalobos had dropped a birthday gift at a friend’s house before her car broke down on the 170 Freeway in North Hollywood.

But what would normally amount to no more than a minor annoyance led to the 29-year-old mother’s tragic death at the hands of a hit-and-run driver Tuesday as her 5-year-old daughter watched, authorities and relatives said Thursday.

Villalobos, a Los Angeles resident, had grown up in a impoverished area near USC, but had fought to get an education, recently graduating from UCLA. She aspired to become an elementary school teacher.

Her daughter, Lauren, was still in shock Wednesday.

The girl has not been eating since the accident, and the family plans to get counseling for her.

“She’s quiet,” said Lauren’s aunt, Yvonne Villalobos, 24, of Los Angeles. “She knows her mother will never come back.”

Lauren is now in the care of her father, Lupe Gutierrez, 32, Yvette Villalobos’ longtime companion.

Villalobos, a petite woman at 5 feet 2, with dark hair and dark eyes, was especially close to her daughter. A first child, Matthew, who had suffered from birth defects, died in 1994 when he was 5. He had needed care around-the-clock and was kept alive on a respirator.

“Despite all the obstacles in her life, she had always been an overachiever,” Yvonne Villalobos said. “My sister meant the world to me. I always looked up to her. She was always trying to get out of the poverty we grew up in.”

Yvette, Yvonne and their brother, Edgar, 23, were raised by their single mother, Mireya Dominguez.

“She lost out on her prime time of life--her early 20s--to care of her son until his heart stopped,” her sister said. “It was hard for her to complete school. But she was real determined to succeed.”

Besides working the graveyard shift at Glendale Adventist Medical Center, Villalobos was a teaching assistant in UCLA’s sociology department and was planning to start on her graduate degree.

“She was revved up about starting to teach. She was really good with kids,” Yvonne Villalobos said.

Police have arrested Armen Tagvoryan, 19, of Panorama City in connection with the accident. He was booked on suspicion of a felony hit-and-run and released Thursday after posting $35,000 bail.

Witnesses described the scene after the freeway tragedy.

Lucia Vargas was driving on the Hollywood Freeway to her North Hollywood home Tuesday night when she spotted Lauren, apparently trying to stop traffic.

Vargas pulled over, noticed two cars on the shoulder, Villalobos lying motionless on the pavement and Lauren nearby.

“[Lauren] said she got out of the car by herself and took off her seat belt,” said Vargas, 41. “She was asking if her mother was dead.”

Vargas said she found the mother unconscious and barely breathing.

A man who first saw the accident scene called 911, Vargas said.

Vargas’ 22-year-old son, Jorge Gallegos, remained with Lauren, who complained of being cold, in Vargas’ minivan, while Vargas stayed with Villalobos. Later, one ambulance took Villalobos to the hospital and another took Lauren.

Villalobos died at 11:46 a.m. Wednesday at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills.

According to the California Highway Patrol, Villalobos and her daughter were traveling south when their car stalled in the slow lane just north of Oxnard Street.

Villalobos stepped out and was looking at the engine when a car struck her car about five minutes later at 8:40 p.m.

Villalobos apparently hit the windshield of her car. Lauren, who was sitting in the passenger seat and wearing her seat belt, was uninjured.

Witnesses said the driver of the car that hit Villalobos’ got out of his vehicle, checked the woman’s condition and fled on foot.

Mger Tagvoryan, Armen Tagvoryan’s brother, reported that the car involved in the crash had been stolen, police said.

The Los Angeles County coroner’s office is scheduled to examine Villalobos today. Relatives plan next week to bury Villalobos at Forest Lawn Memorial Parks-Hollywood Hills next to her son.