Family, police desperate for tips in deadly hit-and-run

GRANDVIEW, Missouri - Friends and relatives of a four-year-old girl killed in a weekend hit-and-run crash desperately want answers.

More than 100 people crowded 152nd Terrace in Grandview Monday night. By candlelight, they cried, mourned and built a shrine using stuffed animals and tea lights. They want everyone to remember Taylor Wilson.

“That’s an innocent little girl that didn’t deserve that,” said Becky Parrish, a neighbor.

Wilson was just four-years-old. Loved ones said she had so much life to live. But Sunday afternoon, while trying to cross the street, Taylor was hit by a pickup truck. She later died.

The pickup driver, whom witnesses said was in a brown or brownish-gold truck, is still running and still hiding.

“(It’s) very, very disturbing because I’ve seen that exact truck drive up my street and almost knock my son off his bike,” Parrish said.

Wilson’s father wants answers.

“I just want to know who did it and I hope they put them to justice, that’s all,” said Joseph Wilson, Taylor’s father.

At Crime Stoppers, 13-year veteran Jeff Fitzgerald said the TIPS hotline has received five tips in Wilson’s case.

“They’re general tips where someone sees a truck that matches that general description of the suspect vehicle,” Fitzgerald said. “We haven’t had anything that we would say is definite. But we are getting tips.”

Fitzgerald said that is common for deadly hit-and-run cases. He also said it has helped police solve a high number of similar cases.

“One thing is the people who are usually involved in these are not career criminals,” Fitzgerald said. “They may be intoxicated at the time and run from the scene. A lot of times, they’ll run just because they don’t have a driver’s license or because they become scared. So, they start doing things that are out of the ordinary and people will then sometimes notice those things.”

Wilson’s loved ones hope that happens. Police need it. If anyone has information about Wilson’s death, call the TIPS Hotline at (816) 474-TIPS. It is an anonymous call.