KALAMAZOO (WKZO-AM) — A man is jailed for the hit-and-run death of a teenager in 1983, a case which the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office says has been cold for 32 years.
Undersheriff Pauli Matyas tells WWMT-TV the suspected driver of the vehicle that killed 16-year-old Eric Cross is currently in jail on an unrelated charge.
Investigators say Cross was found in front of his home near East Y Avenue and South 24th Street in Brady Township by a family member after he was struck and dragged for some distance. A witness told Sheriff’s detectives the vehicle that struck Cross contained two males and a female.
Matyas said, like most cold cases, time passes, allegiances change and past wrongs that haunted lives prompted key witnesses to come forward and say what they know.
It’s not known if everyone involved in the cover-up has come forward. It’s also not clear what charges might be brought against the driver.
– John McNeill
