Vigil for man killed on Pettigrew Street in Raleigh
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- A year after Dwight Emory Smith Jr. was killed in a hit and run, there are still no answers surrounding his death.
No one has been arrested and police still have no leads.
Smith, 26, died after he was run over by a car on Pettigrew Street in Raleigh.
To keep their son's memory alive in the public and to hopefully attract new information, Smith's family held a vigil Sunday evening, on the one year anniversary of his death.
"At times it doesn't seem like you can go on," said Dwight Smith, Sr., Smith's father.
"Knowing that someone out there knows and won't come forward with answers," said Sharon Hartsfield, Smith's mother.
She says her son was at a birthday party for a friend who had been recently released from prison. That party was at 14 Pettigrew Street, on August 3, 2013. At 9:45 p.m. Raleigh police responded to a 911 call:
"There is an injured man on Pettigrew St, laying in the middle of the street, he needs immediate help."
Raleigh police say Smith was killed in a hit and run on Pettigrew Street. They say he had already been lying in the street when the car hit him. Hartsfield says they have since heard rumors that there was possibly a fight that night, "From what I understand, he got beat up and was placed in the street."
Hartsfield says those who lived at 14 Pettigrew that night have since moved away and to this day have not been able to offer any information to help in the investigation.
"To lose your child like that and not know, it's not a good feeling," said Hartsfield.
"We're going to have to live the rest of our lives with this hurt in our hearts," said Smith, Sr.
They hope a vigil, marking the spot their son was killed, will move someone to come forward. Hartsfield says she checks in with investigators twice a month. Officers will also be at the vigil canvassing the neighborhood for any new information.
Anyone with information that might assist investigating officers is asked to either call Raleigh CrimeStoppers at (919) 834-HELP or to go to the CrimeStoppers Web site at www.raleighcrimestoppers.org for instructions on how to report a tip online or by text message.
CrimeStoppers pays cash rewards for anonymous tips that help solve cases.
