The following article is over ten years old, but it contains a lot of factual information about this case. Note that the phone number listed at the end might not be valid today.
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Hitchhiker Killed In '95 Crash Still Unidentified
The Washington Times
Sunday, July 7, 1996
By Bill Baskervill, Associated Press
Emporia, VA -- A year after his death, a young man with a star tattooed on his arm, Grateful Dead concert ticket stubs in his pocket and a letter from two Carolines lies unidentified on a cold mortuary slab.
He was in his 20's -- and except for the letter -- carried no identification on June 26, 1995 when the Volkswagen van in which he was riding rammed two large loblolly pines along Route 58 three miles west of Emporia.
In the pockets of his Levi's 505 jeans were the ticket stubs, four quarters, a yellow cigarette lighter and this note: "To Jason, Sorry we had to go. See you around. Caroline O. and Caroline T."
Jason - if that is his name - waits for someone to claim his remains from the state Medical Examiner's Office in Richmond.
"I would like to find out who he is and close it out," said State Police Trooper T. E. Jones who is frustrated by the leads on the man's identity.
Trooper Jones said the driver of the van, Michael Eric Hager, 21, of Inman, SC, aparently fell asleep. Mr. Hager, a student at the University of South Carolina, and his lone passenger were flung through the windshield and into the trees, Trooper Jones said. Both died of massive head injuries.
The Trooper believes the passenger had attended a Grateful Dead concert in Washington's RFK Stadium the weekend before the Monday accident.
He said Mr. Hager left his girlfriend's Fairfax County home around 7:45 a.m. on the day of the crash and picked up the hitchhiker later. Mr. Hager drove to his father's house in Gloucester County, where neighbors told the trooper they remembered seeing another man with Mr. Hager. The two left Gloucester County about noon, according to the message Mr. Hager left for his father. That would have put them at the accicent scene about 1:30 p.m., the trooper said.
Mr. Hager was enroute to his mother's home in Inman. Where the hitchhiker was headed is not known. Evidently, he was not following the Grateful Dead tour because the band's next date was in the Midwest and Mr. Hager was headed south, Trooper Jones noted.
The hitchhiker was wearing a Gratreful Dead Summer Tour 1995 T-shirt, light blue denim jeans, blue Fila athletic shoes, white athletic socks and macrame and bead necklaces. He was white, 5 teet 8 inches tall, 169 pounds. He had shoulder-length brown hair and brown eyes.
A crudely drawn star tattoo was on his upper left arm. His left earlobe was pierced, but there was no earring.
Trooper Jones has run the hitchhiker's fingerprints through the FBI database and sent his description to every police agency in the country to no avail. He found the man who sold the two Grateful Dead tickets, but to someone other than the hitchhiker. The tickets, for seats in separate sections of RFK Stadium, could have changed hands many times before the hitchhiker got them.
The next step is to check the fingerprints with the Secret Service, which has a larger database than the FBI, the trooper said.
Gladys Culp of Salisbury, NC took up Jason's cause by shopping the story to news organizations. She has mailed journalists copies of a Virginia State Police sketch of the man and a summary of the case.
"I just felt bad there would be somebody that young out there," said Mrs. Culp, who has sons ages 17, 18, and 21. "Maybe he has a family searching for him."
Robert Holloway, administrator of the state Medical Examiner's Office, said it is unusual for a body to remain unidentified for as long as the hitchhiker's. The state will hold the body indefinitely, he said.
Authorities urge anyone with information about the hitchhiker to call Virginia State Police Trooper Jones at 804-634-4454
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note: The article also had a copy of an artist's sketch of the unknown man which has been posted on many websites since. Under it was the following caption: This is a sketch of the unidentified man who died in a June 26, 1995, crash near Emporia, Va.
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Hitchhiker Killed In '95 Crash Still Unidentified
The Washington Times
Sunday, July 7, 1996
By Bill Baskervill, Associated Press
Emporia, VA -- A year after his death, a young man with a star tattooed on his arm, Grateful Dead concert ticket stubs in his pocket and a letter from two Carolines lies unidentified on a cold mortuary slab.
He was in his 20's -- and except for the letter -- carried no identification on June 26, 1995 when the Volkswagen van in which he was riding rammed two large loblolly pines along Route 58 three miles west of Emporia.
In the pockets of his Levi's 505 jeans were the ticket stubs, four quarters, a yellow cigarette lighter and this note: "To Jason, Sorry we had to go. See you around. Caroline O. and Caroline T."
Jason - if that is his name - waits for someone to claim his remains from the state Medical Examiner's Office in Richmond.
"I would like to find out who he is and close it out," said State Police Trooper T. E. Jones who is frustrated by the leads on the man's identity.
Trooper Jones said the driver of the van, Michael Eric Hager, 21, of Inman, SC, aparently fell asleep. Mr. Hager, a student at the University of South Carolina, and his lone passenger were flung through the windshield and into the trees, Trooper Jones said. Both died of massive head injuries.
The Trooper believes the passenger had attended a Grateful Dead concert in Washington's RFK Stadium the weekend before the Monday accident.
He said Mr. Hager left his girlfriend's Fairfax County home around 7:45 a.m. on the day of the crash and picked up the hitchhiker later. Mr. Hager drove to his father's house in Gloucester County, where neighbors told the trooper they remembered seeing another man with Mr. Hager. The two left Gloucester County about noon, according to the message Mr. Hager left for his father. That would have put them at the accicent scene about 1:30 p.m., the trooper said.
Mr. Hager was enroute to his mother's home in Inman. Where the hitchhiker was headed is not known. Evidently, he was not following the Grateful Dead tour because the band's next date was in the Midwest and Mr. Hager was headed south, Trooper Jones noted.
The hitchhiker was wearing a Gratreful Dead Summer Tour 1995 T-shirt, light blue denim jeans, blue Fila athletic shoes, white athletic socks and macrame and bead necklaces. He was white, 5 teet 8 inches tall, 169 pounds. He had shoulder-length brown hair and brown eyes.
A crudely drawn star tattoo was on his upper left arm. His left earlobe was pierced, but there was no earring.
Trooper Jones has run the hitchhiker's fingerprints through the FBI database and sent his description to every police agency in the country to no avail. He found the man who sold the two Grateful Dead tickets, but to someone other than the hitchhiker. The tickets, for seats in separate sections of RFK Stadium, could have changed hands many times before the hitchhiker got them.
The next step is to check the fingerprints with the Secret Service, which has a larger database than the FBI, the trooper said.
Gladys Culp of Salisbury, NC took up Jason's cause by shopping the story to news organizations. She has mailed journalists copies of a Virginia State Police sketch of the man and a summary of the case.
"I just felt bad there would be somebody that young out there," said Mrs. Culp, who has sons ages 17, 18, and 21. "Maybe he has a family searching for him."
Robert Holloway, administrator of the state Medical Examiner's Office, said it is unusual for a body to remain unidentified for as long as the hitchhiker's. The state will hold the body indefinitely, he said.
Authorities urge anyone with information about the hitchhiker to call Virginia State Police Trooper Jones at 804-634-4454
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note: The article also had a copy of an artist's sketch of the unknown man which has been posted on many websites since. Under it was the following caption: This is a sketch of the unidentified man who died in a June 26, 1995, crash near Emporia, Va.
