Pre-dawn collision: 32-year-old son of Hollywood stars booked on felony hit-and-run charges
Jack Sabato, the 32-year-old son of Oscar-nominated actress Virginia Madsen and actor Antonio Sabàto Jr., has been arrested in Anchorage, Alaska, after authorities linked his sport utility vehicle to a fatal hit-and-run that killed a pedestrian early Monday morning, court records and police statements confirm.
According to the Anchorage Police Department, emergency dispatchers received multiple calls around 5:48 a.m. on November 9 reporting an injured man lying unresponsive on the sidewalk near the intersection of Airport Heights Drive and DeBarr Road. Paramedics rushed to the scene but were unable to revive 42-year-old Carl Simmonds, who was declared dead at the scene from severe blunt-force trauma.
Traffic collision investigators determined that Simmonds was struck at approximately 5:35 a.m. by a northbound vehicle that failed to brake, swerve, or stop to render assistance before accelerating away into the darkness.
Debris and surveillance video led Anchorage detectives directly to Sabato's vehicle
Traffic investigators recovered critical vehicle debris scattered across the roadway, including a broken fog light bezel and a molded plastic bumper bracket bearing General Motors part numbers. Working with commercial surveillance footage from surrounding businesses along DeBarr Road, officers identified the fleeing vehicle as a white 2018 Chevrolet Tahoe.
By Monday afternoon, patrol officers spotted a matching Tahoe parked outside an Anchorage warehouse facility where Sabato worked. The vehicle displayed severe right front-end impact damage, a crushed grille, and a shattered passenger-side headlight assembly consistent with the debris collected at the crash scene.
When questioned by detectives, Sabato reportedly admitted that he was operating the Tahoe early Monday morning while completing food delivery orders through DoorDash. Sabato told investigators he felt a heavy impact and assumed he had struck a dog or a wild animal, adding that he did not pull over because he panicked and did not have active auto insurance on the vehicle.
Police arrested Sabato on the spot and booked him into the Anchorage Correctional Complex on felony charges of leaving the scene of an accident involving injury or death and failing to render aid to an injured person.
District court sets bail at $5,000 as family requests privacy
Sabato made his initial appearance in Anchorage District Court on Tuesday afternoon for an arraignment before a magistrate judge. Prosecutors requested a $10,000 monetary bond, citing the severity of the charges and the suspect's acknowledged failure to stop. The judge established bail at $5,000 cash, coupled with conditions of release that explicitly prohibit Sabato from operating any motorized vehicle while the case is pending.
Sabato is the only child of Virginia Madsen—acclaimed for her Academy Award-nominated performance in Sideways and iconic roles in Candyman and Dune—and actor-model Antonio Sabàto Jr., known for General Hospital and Melrose Place. The couple was in a relationship during the early 1990s following Sabato's birth in 1994.
In a brief statement given to reporters outside court proceedings, Antonio Sabàto Jr. expressed sorrow over the incident and asked the public to respect the family's privacy during a difficult moment. Representatives for Virginia Madsen had not returned requests for comment as of Wednesday morning.
