Found Deceased NC - Weston Vandermerwe, 23, Raleigh, 9 Aug 2013

[YidArmyRach]

not being snarky but this has been said ad infinitum - HIS FRIENDS DID NOT LEAVE HIM ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD. A GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO DID NOT KNOW HIM SAW HIM LAYING ON THE SIDEWALK AND ASKED HIM IF HE NEEDED HELP AND HE SAID NO SO THEY LEFT.

Sorry - the things I read said it was his friends. However, my opinion still holds with regards to the people who left him there. If he was so drunk that he was lying in a road, then he wasn't in a position to refuse help. They should have done something, even if it was just to move him to a safer location.

I had a drunk lady collapse in front of my car once, and ended up lying in the gutter. When I tried to help her she swore at me, got very abusive and told me to leave her alone. However, rather than do that, I called the police and waited - with my car parked next to her so she wouldn't get run over - and only when the police arrived, did I leave.

 

[Boodles]

Frustrating that there has been no news about the investigation. I'm of the belief that the driver is very aware of what was done and also has very significant auto damage. I hope LE has some leads.

 

[borndem]

With ya, Boodles -- I look in the N&O and WRAL every or every other day for news (as you prolly do, too), and see nothing. I know that doesn't necessarily mean that nothing is happening, but it's a worry. As another poster said earlier, to knock a grown man 95 feet certainly would make a sound and a shock to the car. Unless that driver was too DUI to notice or care. Wouldn't a collision like that have had an effect on the pathway the car took after the hit? Dunno. Not buying it unless the driver was as or more impaired than Weston.

Going at a usual rate of speed on 40/440 should not be so loud or "rocky" on the road for someone in the car not to have seen or felt or heard something. At least, seems to me -- maybe I am naive or whatever...

This man could not have been lying in the road for him to be shoved 95 feet onto the roadside. He had to have been upright, IMO -- walking or standing -- he could have been on the side of the road and stumbled into the roadway. If he were fairly inebriated and just appeared out of nowhere -- which is possible & maybe likely -- IMO, it would be significant mitigation for the driver. Just pull over, make a call or ask for help on the roadside, call 911 and call LE. We have all seen accidents where a child is hit when he/she darted into the road chasing a ball or just running. Often the driver is not charged.

Maybe a neighbor or a repair shop has seen the car and has reported it and LE is investigating?? And keeping quiet until they have probable cause??

Again, if this was a driver out-of-state or far enuff away for it not ever to be connected to this tragedy, then we may never have any good news. I don't know how a hit-and-run fatality is handled re interstate notifications or alerts. I would like to know how that works, Boods.

Let's keep hoping... and thinking about his family and loved ones.

End of mini-rant.

 

[Boodles]

borndem, another thing, it seems that he was hit by a car merging onto 40 from the Hammond on-ramp. IMO, that makes it quite unlikely that it was someone passing through Raleigh on I-40. If they were just passing through, how did they get onto Hammond? That area is not one where a traveler would likely exit for a pit stop. South Saunders, yes, Person/Hammond, no.

It had to have been someone who was coming from downtown. Yes, maybe they were DWI, or maybe freaked out. But why not come forward? It can't be proven at this point that a driver was (or wasn't) drunk.

I haven't heard any pleas by LE for information. Isn't that odd? Weston's mother asks for people to come forward (she was doing so in a segment on WRAL this evening with Amanda Lamb). But LE hasn't said anything publicly, or if they have, I missed it.

By the way, in Amanda's report, she said Weston was struck and thrown over the guardrail and down the embankment (they showed a steep slope). The car that hit him has to have damage.

http://www.wral.com/father-of-hit-and-run-victim-focused-on-loss-not-finding-culprit/12776904/

 

[borndem]

Here is another article with Amanda Lamb briefly talking to Weston's mother. It also has a bit of film showing the area of the accident from overhead -- nothing graphic in the least -- just a brief film from a helicopter of the site.


http://www.wral.com/news/local/video/12803394/#/vid12803394


Here is another report, dated 8/14, but I have not seen it. It contains some remarks about a Raleigh PD accident report.

http://wsav.membercenter.worldnow.com/story/23138118/911-call-vandermerwe-discovered-by-dot-workers

Please forgive if these have already been posted.

 

[borndem]

borndem, another thing, it seems that he was hit by a car merging onto 40 from the Hammond on-ramp. IMO, that makes it quite unlikely that it was someone passing through Raleigh on I-40. If they were just passing through, how did they get onto Hammond? That area is not one where a traveler would likely exit for a pit stop. South Saunders, yes, Person/Hammond, no.

It had to have been someone who was coming from downtown. Yes, maybe they were DWI, or maybe freaked out. But why not come forward? It can't be proven at this point that a driver was (or wasn't) drunk.

I haven't heard any pleas by LE for information. Isn't that odd? Weston's mother asks for people to come forward (she was doing so in a segment on WRAL this evening with Amanda Lamb). But LE hasn't said anything publicly, or if they have, I missed it.

By the way, in Amanda's report, she said Weston was struck and thrown over the guardrail and down the embankment (they showed a steep slope). The car that hit him has to have damage.

http://www.wral.com/father-of-hit-and-run-victim-focused-on-loss-not-finding-culprit/12776904/

Good points, Boods. You're right, that ramp would not be a likely place at all for someone just driving through Raleigh & needing a pit stop, gas stop, or all-night diner stop. It certainly is very likely that it was a local.

-----------
​

And yes, he had to have been hit pretty hard to go over the guardrail and down that embankment, and I'll say again, I don't think it's likely at all that he was lying in the roadway, he had to be upright to be shot like a man out of a cannon... And the vehicle, yes as you said, was damaged, w/o a doubt.

 

[zelmajane]

So a truck with front end damage just showed up for sale on this yard sale site I follow (its not in Raleigh actually 2 hours from Raleigh). It doesn't look like enough damage... But they were over explaining why they need to get rid of it. It was strange. I think I'll screen shot it and call it in tomorrow.

 

[borndem]

So a truck with front end damage just showed up for sale on this yard sale site I follow (its not in Raleigh actually 2 hours from Raleigh). It doesn't look like enough damage... But they were over explaining why they need to get rid of it. It was strange. I think I'll screen shot it and call it in tomorrow.

Hmmmm, zelmajane -- You just never know; sometimes, as we all have seen & seen again, a little tip breaks something wide open. If not our Weston, the driver of the truck could have done similar damage to another human being. Good eyes, z-j.

I feel sure LE would rather get this kind of call than not get one at all.

And if you think it's hinky, it probably is. "Call the man," as we say, Sleuther!

Good thoughts to you, to Le, and for the Vandemerwe family

 

[zelmajane]

http://www.wral.com/apex-man-s-unsolved-hit-and-run-death-a-nightmare-for-grieving-family/12872429/

Vehicle description! Dark blue SUV Chevy make. Read the article! This makes me happy for their family.

 

[MsFacetious]

I know they believe they have a make of the vehicle...
(Though, this could also just be from a fender bender that wasn't called into LE.)

Just in case, do semi trucks ever drive through there?
We have seen multiple cases where semis hit people or even CARS and didn't realize it.

I knew it had to be at least a pick up truck.
A car likely would have thrown him up and over the car... and he likely would have landed in the road.

 

[zelmajane]

I know they believe they have a make of the vehicle...
(Though, this could also just be from a fender bender that wasn't called into LE.)

Just in case, do semi trucks ever drive through there?
We have seen multiple cases where semis hit people or even CARS and didn't realize it.

I knew it had to be at least a pick up truck.
A car likely would have thrown him up and over the car... and he likely would have landed in the road.

There would be no reason for a semi to be coming on to the highway that direction, that I know of. When I get to my PC I'll look again.

I assumed they found his DNA on these pieces.

 

[borndem]

There would be no reason for a semi to be coming on to the highway that direction, that I know of. When I get to my PC I'll look again.

I assumed they found his DNA on these pieces.

A semi or other large commercial truck or SUV could certainly be coming from the south part of Hammond -- Garner and south of Garner have all kinds of businesses that could be entering 40 via Hammond Road. I went home from work 5 days a week that way. I was south of 40, so I got on Hammond, waited at a light to turn left in front of Hammond Road traffic going south. When I got onto the merge lane, I had to merge with the Hammond/Blount St. traffic just before I merged onto 40. You can see Hammond coming from the south, going north and the left turn traffic has to make to get on 40 going west.


ETA: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Hamm...ammond+Rd,+Raleigh,+Wake,+North+Carolina&z=17

 

[zatanna]

So a truck with front end damage just showed up for sale on this yard sale site I follow (its not in Raleigh actually 2 hours from Raleigh). It doesn't look like enough damage... But they were over explaining why they need to get rid of it. It was strange. I think I'll screen shot it and call it in tomorrow.

Just catching up on this case, but the idea above is very legit.

My cousin was deliberately run down and killed in a college bar neighborhood by a guy that was intoxicated and thought my cousin was a guy he had an argument with in one of the bars. The guy was eventually caught bc he and his mom went to a shop and sold the car to someone. That man overheard them talking about how they needed to get rid of the car quickly and that the perp should sign the car over to his mom.

Sure enough, next day they bring the car in, the car is in mom's name. The man starts repairs, looks at the damages, thinks of the conversation, thinks about the headlines about the case, and calls the police. Checking for vehicles with damage that were quickly sold off at the time of the crime can pay off.

The perp said he had no remorse...just sad. I hope they find the person that killed Weston.

 

[ArianeEmory]

So a truck with front end damage just showed up for sale on this yard sale site I follow (its not in Raleigh actually 2 hours from Raleigh). It doesn't look like enough damage... But they were over explaining why they need to get rid of it. It was strange. I think I'll screen shot it and call it in tomorrow.

Did you end up calling this in? Sounds like they do think it was a truck.

 

[FrostOwl]

Did you end up calling this in? Sounds like they do think it was a truck.

Police seek help identifying hit and run driver