OAKLAND PARK, Fla. – About two weeks ago, Barbara Price left her husband of 37 years home in Oakland Park to go to a convenience store across the street, and she never came back.
Price’s only son, Joel Ragland, and her husband, Gary Price, were heartbroken. A driver struck and killed her as she attempted to cross Powerline Road, near Northwest 39 Street, deputies said.
According to Detective Michael Wiley, the driver of a light blue Land Rover Range Rover fled with frontal passenger-side damage and detectives need the public’s help to solve the case.
“I love her,” said the widower, a U.S. Army veteran who lives with Alzheimer’s disease, a progressive brain disorder that gradually affects memory.
Broward County Sheriff’s Office homicide detectives don’t believe the driver of the sports utility vehicle even attempted to stop.
"There is no skid marks," Wiley said adding that the evidence also includes parts of the SUV indicating it’s from 2005 to 2009.
Ragland had a message for the hit-and-run driver and any witness who might have been in the SUV.
“We as a family forgive them for what has happened, but by their own actions, they are going to have to deal with the law now.”
Ragland said his 80-year-old mother had planned to take care of his stepfather until his death, so he and his wife will try to step up, but they will need support.
“Gary is a good man who worked all of his life,” Ragland wrote on a GoFundMe page he said will benefit his 84-year-old stepfather.