Troopers looking for truck in fatal hit-and-run

SILER CITY, North Carolina (WTVD) -- The North Carolina Highway Patrol is looking for the driver of a box truck that hit a man and kept going.

Troopers said it happened around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday morning on US 421 just south of Gilmore Lodge Road in the Siler City area of Chatham County.

Thaj Lamar Singleton, 18, was riding a scooter in the northbound lane when he was hit from behind. He died at the scene.

Singleton's family told ABC11 he was on his way home after working the second shift at a poultry plant. His grandmother found his body when she went looking for him when he didn't come home.

"When I found out that my son, my baby, had been killed it took a piece of me, a piece of my heart," said Tabatha Singleton.

Now she wants justice.

"And I'm just asking that if anyone - wherever you are - have any information on my son, who hit and killed my son and left him on the side of the road like he was a common dog and left, that they will come forth," she said. "Because until I find closure a part of me is still out there on [Highway] 421."

Investigators suspect it was an early 2000's model International Box Truck (possibly white in color). It likely has damage to the right and center of the front bumper, and the passenger side headlight is broken.

Anyone who can provide information on the vehicle shown in the photograph or its driver is encouraged to contact the State Highway Patrol Raleigh Communications Center at 1-800-662-7956 or the Chatham County District Office at (919) 742 - 2124.

Funeral services for Thaj Lamar Singleton will be held at the Staunton Memorial CME Church located at 230 Credle Street in Pittsboro, North Carolina.

The services will start at 2 p.m. and doors will open at 1:00 p.m.

The family is also trying to raise money for funeral expenses. You can donate HERE.