Mom seeking answers to son's death

AUSTN (KXAN) - Austin police are still searching for the driver who struck and killed Reynaldo Lucio, 47, in the early morning hours of Sunday, Oct. 28. in the 5800 block of South First Street. The driver did not stop.

According to APD, since 2005 there have been 85 similar auto-pedestrian fatalities and 30 remain unsolved.

One unsolved case involved the son of Dayton Williams. Tyrell Seth Williams was 31 and a former marine when he was struck and killed on February 11, 2008 on Water Parks Road, as he was walking to his house about a mile away. No one came forward, frustrating police and grieving relatives.

"For everyone one of these numbers is a person," said Lt. Troy Officer of APD Vehicular Homicide. "A person who others loved and cared about them."

Tyrell Seth Williams was struck by a second car as he was lying dead in the street. That car stopped.

"You can imagine the person who stopped thought she had killed someone. But he was already dead," said Dayton.

Dayton Williams wrote a book about her experience. Through the Grief recounts the family's difficulty dealing with Tyrell's death. She and her only daughter are now estranged because of it.

Tyrell served three tours in Iraq and was honorably discharged 83 days before his death.

"A soldier who three times went to war only to come home and be killed by a citizen he was protecting is unconscionable," said Lt. Officer.

Ms. Williams remembers being so relieved when her son was discharged.

"I felt he was out of the war, safe and out of danger. It wasn't true," said Dayton.