UPDATE: Help sought to find family of pedestrian killed near Cherry Grove
By DEUCE NIVEN
UPDATE: Nov. 30
Unable to locate any living relatives of a Fair Bluff area man killed while walking along a rural road near his home Thanksgiving night, Columbus County Assistant Coroner William Hannah has identified the man in hopes publicity will help find someone.
Richard Lee Condon, 44, was walking away from his Fronis Strickland Road home, in the direction of nearby NC 904, hand-in-hand with his girlfriend, when he was struck by an SUV and killed, Trooper D.P. Tubbs of the North Carolina Highway Patrol said.
Condon was in the roadway. His girlfriend, on the road shoulder, was not seriously injured.
From public records, an Internet search, and interviews with friends and a former girlfriend, Hannah said he has learned that Condon’s parents and a brother are deceased.
A former girlfriend said she believed Condon had a sister, but did not know her name, or where she might live. Family members have lived in the Sarasota, Florida and Jacksonville, North Carolina areas in the past, Hannah said.
Anyone with information on how to contact a living relative of Richard Lee Condon should contact the North Carolina Highway Patrol, Hannah said.
Nov. 27 post
A couple walking along a rural road near the Cherry Grove Community after sunset today were hit by a motorist, killing the man, sparing his girlfriend, Columbus County Assistant Coroner William Hannah said.
Officials were not able to immediately locate family members, Hannah said, withholding the identity of the man until family notification is made.
A small SUV struck both the man and woman as they walked along Fronis Strickland Road, about 300 yards west of NC 904 near Fair Bluff, shortly before 6 p.m., Hannah said.
Hannah said the man who died appeared to be in his mid-40s, and that the SUV was still on the scene as law enforcement officers arrived.
More detailed information from the North Carolina Highway Patrol was not immediately available Thursday night.
For more on this story see next Wednesday’s Tabor-Loris Tribune in print and online.