honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, April 13, 2007

Plea made to find driver in hit-run

By Dave Dondoneau
Advertiser Staff Writer

The family of a pedestrian who was killed in a hit-and-run incident on the Big Island has taken to the Internet to try to find the driver who fled the scene.

The sister of Raymond L. Carvalho, who was struck by a vehicle while he was walking north on North Kulani Road at 10:44 p.m. March 9, has made a plea on Craigslist for anyone with information on the vehicle to contact her family or the police.

"I am doing everything that I can to put the word out," said Cheryl Carvalho-Garcia, who lives in the San Francisco Bay area along with her parents.

Carvalho-Garcia, a preschool teacher, e-mailed her comments to The Advertiser on Wednesday, saying her family has come up empty in the search for the driver and that they are looking for closure.

"My brother moved back to the Big Island nine months ago to be with his children," Carvalho-Garcia wrote. "I am running out of ideas and just don't know what else to do. Even if I flew back home to the Big Island, I wouldn't know where to start looking. I know that someone out there must know something and isn't talking or saying anything or knows that the vehicle is damaged but doesn't realize that it's related to my brother's death."

Big Island police said at the time that they believe Carvalho was struck by a Chevrolet that probably has a damaged right headlight area.

Carvalho-Garcia said family members on the Big Island are searching for clues to what happened that night. She said police have told them a witness said a blue Chevy truck was at the Mountain View post office during the hour of accident and that a man and woman were in it.

"Hopefully we can come up with something soon," she wrote. "My dad is very ill. The rest of the family just can't sleep at night. We are haunted by this and just want to find the person who did this. We want to know if it was an accident or done intentionally."

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the Big Island police department's Criminal Investigation section at 961-2255 or Crime Stoppers at (808) 961-8300.

Reach Dave Dondoneau at ddondoneau@honoluluadvertiser.com.