Mother Pleads For Information In Son's Hit-And-Run Death

Authorities received a call at about 9:15 p.m. Tuesday about a pedestrian being hit at the intersection of Barber Mill Road and N.C. Highway 42. When officers arrived at the scene, they found the victim, Michael Laier Thomas, 27, of Clayton. He died at the scene.

"I don't see how someone could do that to another human being, much less my baby," said the victim's mother, Melisa Groomes. "Why should anybody just want to hit him and go away?"

Thomas' family members said someone hit him and left him in the road and that it was not until a second motorist hit him that someone contacted 911.

Residents who live in the area said Wednesday that the area of road is very dangerous and that Tuesday's death was not the first in the same area of road.

"A lady just got killed last year walking down the same street," said resident Robin Flow, who lives on Barber Mill Road. "And then, a guy on a motorcycle just got killed early part of this week, so this is a very dangerous highway."

Officers currently have no suspects or details about the vehicle that hit Thomas and ask that anyone who was in the area on Tuesday to contact the Highway Patrol at

919-934-2186

or the Johnston County Sheriff's Office at

919-989-5010

"We need to find out what happened," Groomes said. "Somebody out there saw something besides a figure walking down the road that they think was my son."