Hi all,
After posting GD's story all over Reddit, wherever I could imagine it may fit, I made contact with somebody who was close friends with the driver, Eric (that was his preferred name). I thought you might like to have a read through the questions I asked, and his responses. Please, if you would like me to ask any questions, don't hesitate to mail or post here and I will forward them on to him!
First off, could you tell me a bit more about Michael?
First off, his name was Michael but he was called Eric. That's what everyone knew him as for as long as I knew him (from 5th grade when he moved to Spartanburg, SC). His mother was married to one of my Dad's high school friends and I used to spend the night with him growing up a good bit.
Nothing personal obviously, just what he was like as a person? Do you think it would be likely he would pick up a hitchhiker? Was he a Grateful Dead fan? I think it has been confirmed he was not at that concert, as he was with his girlfriend, but I'd be interested to know if he was motivated to pick up our doe because of his clothing. Do you know if he had ever been to a GD concert before?
Eric was a really big dead fan. I wasn't really into them but he and I would smoke weed and play music for each other (I was more into indie rock at the time...Phish caught me not long after when they played Columbia). Anyway, yeah, all his newer friends were dead fans and I heard that he was going to see the dead around that time so it surprised me to hear that he hadn't been to the show when he wrecked - which by the way, I didn't know until recently in a forum somewhere that was talking about this. For years, I thought he was coming back from a dead show.
The girlfriend thing is tricky. He had a girlfriend I think was originally from VA but went to USC. I don't remember her name (it's been too many years) but was friends with her at the time. They had broken up and he was dating another girl I didn't know but she was at USC also. Cute red-head. I didn't know her well - only met her through him - but she was a hippy type, wore tie dye, long skirts, berkenstocks, etc. They both were at the funeral, which was a bit weird.
And, yeah, he was a kind and trusting person. I don't doubt at all he would've picked up a hitchhiker, especially a young guy wearing deadhead attire.
Were you given any information about the accident at all? Say, were they able to estimate how long it was between when it happened, to when they were found? It has been entertained in the past that maybe someone robbed our doe, and that is why there is no information on him at all.
I don't know anything really. All I heard was he fell asleep driving. I was more upset about Eric than anything and didn't know about the unidentified guy until later. I have known a number of people who similarly toured with Phish and wouldn't be surprised at all if they had no identifying information on them
There was information presented that perhaps a neighbour spotted a 'young man' with Michael as he entered his fathers house the day of the accident. Did you ever hear anything of that nature?
No. His mother and father were divorced and I grew up with him in SC where he lived with his mother. I only met his real father a couple of times, one of them at the funeral.
Wish I had more info for you. Like I said, it's been many, many years and I probably didn't have much information that would be helpful even then.
Let me know if you would like anything else asked!