DAYTON — UPDATE @ 7:15 p.m.: Police are hoping the community will help them track down a sedan witnesses said hit and killed a 39-year-old mother of two Monday night.
>> Dayton police looking for hit-and-run vehicle that injured man on bicycle
Tamara Nicole Jackson was trying to cross West Third Street near Bish and Lorenz avenues to get to an RTA bus stop, after having just left her stepmother’s home, when witnesses said a speeding car seemingly came out of nowhere and hit her.
Police investigators, in a traffic crash report, said Jackson “failed to yield the right of way.”
A caller to Montgomery County 9-1-1 dispatch said, “yeah, he [the car] was flying.”
Police said Jackson likely was killed instantly.
"I didn't hear anything, happened so quick," Mila Smith, Jackson's stepmother, told News Center 7's Mike Campbell on Wednesday. "One minute she's there on the porch, next minute she's gone."
Neither Smith nor Adam Shorter, who has been with Jackson the last 18 years, can understand why someone would run down a pedestrian and not stop to check on them.
“He needs to be held accountable, he needs to pay for what he did to Tamara, he needs to be held accountable for his actions, that’s murder,” Smith said. Police have not said whether the driver is believed to be male or female.
Shorter said he needs answers so he can tell Jackson's sons, 21 and 9, what happened to their mother.
For now, the vigil at West Third Street and Bish Avenue held Tuesday night will have to suffice as a chapter to the unfinished story of Tamara Nicole Jackson, who worked as a home health care aide/nurse.
“She has a big heart,” Shorter said, “...a wonderful person. A big heart. Very caring, you know?”
If you witnessed the accident or have information about a Chrysler 300, the car believed to have been involved, you are asked to call Dayton police at 937-333-2677 or Miami Valley Crime Stoppers at 937-222-STOP (7867).
WHIO will continue to update this story as we learn more.
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