Police seek driver in fatal Fayetteville hit-and-run

Authorities were dispatched to the area after reports of a woman lying on the side of the road around 2 a.m. Hilda Sutton was found at the scene and taken to a nearby hospital, where she died.

Sutton, who lived on Briar Circle, was leaving her apartment complex and heading to a convenience store when she was hit, police said. She was with a friend, Eva Esposito, who said the car sped up, hit Sutton and kept going.

"A car came barreling, speeding, like a demon," she said. "I went, 'Hilda, don't do it. Hilda! Hilda!' It was like, boom. The big bang."

Esposito said the vehicle that hit Sutton was a black, economy-sized car with round headlights. Police say the car likely has front-end damage.

Sutton's husband, Robert Sutton, said his wife was a mother of two and a grandmother. The couple was approaching their 24th wedding anniversary.

"It was just a natural love thing for us," he said. "It seemed sometimes like we think the same. Before we even opened our mouth, we already knew what the other one was going to say."

He said an arrest would help bring peace to Hilda Sutton's family and friends.

"It won't bring her back, but it would still mean a lot," Robert Sutton said. "At least she would know I didn't stop trying to (find) who did this to her."

Anyone with information on either hit-and-run should call police or Crime Stoppers at 919-483-8477.