Sara Burack death: Amanda Kempton, charged with fatally striking Hamptons real estate agent, tried to remove suitcase under car after crash, prosecutor says

A Virginia woman briefly stopped to attempt to remove a suitcase from underneath her car after fatally striking a prominent Hamptons real estate agent but then continued to drive away from the early morning June crash, a Suffolk prosecutor disclosed during an arraignment on a grand jury indictment Monday.

Amanda Kempton, 32, pleaded not guilty to a single count of leaving the scene of a fatal crash at her arraignment before state Supreme Court Justice John Collins. She will remain free on a $200,000 bond pending the outcome of her case, the judge determined.

Assistant District Attorney MacDonald Drane said victim Sara Burack was walking with a suitcase along Montauk Highway in Hampton Bays when she was struck by Kempton's vehicle. Kempton stopped briefly and backed up in an attempt to dislodge the luggage, but then continued on, Drane said.

"She never reported the crash to law enforcement and was only found later on when [her] vehicle was located at a family member's house," Drane told Collins.

The prosecutor said the car had front-end damage consistent with what video evidence of the crash showed investigators.

Defense attorney William Keahon, of Hauppauge, said his client believed she had hit a traffic construction barrel and that she stopped only after turning off the roadway, not where a badly injured Burack would soon be found in the roadway.

"My client continues to drive forward, makes a right-hand turn and realizes there's something under the carriage of the vehicle," Keahon said.

Kempton drove to a friend's house following the 2:26 a.m. crash, her attorney said.

Keahon blamed foggy conditions on the crash.

"There was zero visibility weather that day at that incident location and that time," he said.

Speaking outside court, Keahon said the video evidence did not accurately depict the foggy conditions that morning. He said he is looking into the possibility that the camera capturing the crash has the capability to reduce fog in the images.

Keahon said his client, who is residing with a family member in Suffolk County while the case continues, did not see Burack in the unlit roadway, where he said police have since told him she often walked but was advised not to for her own safety. The attorney said his client was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol and was not speeding at the time of the crash.

Police have said a 911 caller reported seeing an injured woman on Montauk Highway around 2:45 a.m. June 19 near Villa Paul Restaurant, west of Springville Road.

Burack was taken by ambulance to Stony Brook University Hospital, where she died from her injuries, police previously said.

Burack was a former real estate agent for Nest Seekers International, a Hamptons and New York City-based real estate agency of high-end properties. She was also featured in the Netflix series "Million Dollar Beach House," set in the Hamptons.

Members of Burack's family who attended Monday's arraignment declined to comment.

Collins set a 9 p.m. curfew for Kempton, who attended George Mason University in Virginia and has a background in marine biology but told the judge she is not currently working. Keahon said his client was visiting Suffolk doing volunteer work in her field around the date of the crash.

Kempton, who declined to comment as she left the courthouse in the company of her father, is scheduled to return to court Nov. 20.