Wednesday, August 21st 2024, 9:42 pm
A family is in desperate need of answers after a Dewey man was killed in a hit-and-run. It's been seven months, and no one has been arrested.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says it happened on New Year’s Day.
Kerry Thornton’s sister, Velma Thornton, says he was one of the funniest people she’s ever met, loved his family, and loved to cook.
She says it’s been hard for her family to carry on since they lost him.
Thornton says her brother was killed just steps away from where she lives.
“His son is missing him every day, his oldest son, who's 32 now, hasn't seen him in almost 30 years and he was going to come out and visit him for the first time after all these years this summer,” said Thornton.
OHP says Thornton was killed by a hit-and-run driver in Dewey, and the family says the driver still hasn’t been identified.
Velma Thornton says Kerry Thornton was going to see family when he was killed.
“He's walking Christmas presents over to my ex-husband's house actually for the animals,” said Thornton. “He had them wrapped for the animals. Me and my sister found the Christmas presents the following day.”
Velma Thornton says Kerry Thornton was an Army veteran who served overseas.
“He was going to lose his life over there in Iraq or whatever for everybody over here, to only get ran over by somebody over here?” said Thornton. “It's just not right.”
Living so close to where the crash happened has her worried that it could happen again, and she'd hate to see this happen to someone else’s family.
“Every holiday comes around, I almost don't want to go anywhere because I'm afraid he could still be out there on the streets,” said Thornton. “Who are they going to run over next? Is it going to be somebody else's child?”
She has this message but the person responsible for Thornton’s death.
“I hope you're enjoying your life because we're not enjoying ours,” said Thornton. “And I hope that one day you can come forward before they find you.”
The Thorntons believe several people witnessed the crash.
If you know anything that could help the investigation, please reach out to OHP.
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