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Published: 2012-08-05 07:21:00
Updated: 2012-08-06 12:24:26

Police seek driver in fatal Fayetteville hit-and-run


Fayetteville hit-and-run
Fayetteville hit-and-run
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A 58-year-old Fayetteville woman died early Sunday after being hit by a car as she tried to cross Owen Drive, police said. 

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."

Sunday's crash is the second fatal hit-and-run in Fayetteville in the past week.

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


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It is so disheartening to read such uncaring comments about this accident involving Hilda Sutton. You need to realize that everybody has thier own way of doing things. Although I would not be in the habit of going out that late at night, some craving might just have me making a trip. I am blessed to have a driver's license and a car. May God bless those of you who have compassion and soften the hearts of those who lack it. I will keep the Sutton Family in my prayers, that they be blessed with comfort and peace.

There is more to this story. People seem to condemn a person based on the first story told about whatever it is. Wait for the final report. You just may find out that your initial thoughts were wrong. Not saying they don't need to waste time getting this guy. He is a hit and run suspect, but if he were to stop, would it be a wrongful death or was this lady stumbling out into the road? We just don't know.

If those are tire tracks on tje road, it looks like the driver tried to stop and steer to the right when they realized she was going to run, but misjudged. Was she wearing reflective gear, shoes, flashlight? That is a hiway, not a road.

We're told that the shooter at the Sikh temple is a white supremacist, but I can't suggest the driver ran because they were here illegally? Wow!

The only thing I would be doing at 2am is going to the bathroom.

I hope they get this person, and put him in jail.

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