Nearly a week after a woman was killed along I-95 at Edgewood Avenue, authorities are still searching for the driver involved in the deadly hit and run.
Mary Jones, a longtime dispatcher for the Sparta Police Department in Georgia, was killed in the Sept. 12 crash. Sparta is a small community between Atlanta and Augusta.
Tuesday night, Jones’ community of family and co-workers came together to pay their respects and fondly remember the 63-year-old at a candlelight vigil.
Those who knew her well said she was dedicated to her job.
“We call her Ms. Mary,” said Sparta Police Department chief Tommie Walker Jr. “We come now to remember the times we spent with her and thank God for the opportunity knowing that He didn’t have to allow her to be in our lives but He did.
Walker said Jones served the department with “distinction.”
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Jones was hit and killed by a driver on I-95 at Edgewood Avenue last Thursday morning.
After pulling onto the right shoulder, Jones got out of her car, and the driver of an SUV struck her but kept going, FHP said.
Jones later died from her injuries.
Troopers found the SUV later that day. The agency did not say where, but investigators are still looking for the driver.
As for Jones’ family, her son said her loss is felt deeply, and he had this message for the community.
”I’ll just say for the last 30 years, I’ve been away from Georgia. I never realized how special home and family is until something like this,” he said. “So, I remind everyone to slow down a little bit and go home.”
Investigators with FHP are asking anyone with information related to the driver in this case to give them a call.