COWETA COUNTY, Ga. — Authorities say they are interviewing a person of interest in the case of a teenager hit and killed by a driver who kept going.
Someone hit Parker Madliak, 13, as he walked along Welcome Sargent Road near Newnan Monday night.
Channel 2's Tom Jones was at the scene when some of Parker's classmates stopped by to leave messages and teddy bears.
"He was an amazing person," Kacie Lites said, fighting back tears.
Parker's family says his sudden death is hitting them hard.
"Everybody’s kind of in shock I would say," his stepfather, Matt Harrison, said.
Authorities say Parker was walking home from a friend's house around 9:30 Monday night.
"We got him on a video at a nearby store on Welcome Sargent Road," Georgia State Patrol Trooper Sgt. Mike Adcock said.
Before that, Parker's stepfather says the teen's mother called him on his cellphone.
"She asked him, 'Do you need me to come pick you up?' and he's like, 'No, I'm okay.' He's just right up the road," the stepfather recalled.
His mother called police around midnight when he never made it.
Deputies found his body in a yard near the convenience store around 3 a.m. Tuesday. Authorities found pieces of the truck that hit Parker at the scene.
They now believe it was a Ford F-150 truck made between 2004 and 2008.
Parker's stepfather wants the driver to come forward.
"If it was an accident, please step up and say so," he said.
Parker's friends and their parents hugged and cried at the scene.
Kacie said she'll miss her friend.
"Me and him used to talk every day at school, and every day at school, we would walk, and he would hug me and put his arm around me," she said.
Parker's stepfather is warning other parents to make sure their children have on reflective vests when walking at night.
Authorities say the investigation is still ongoing, and they have more work to do.
WSBTV
