Tim Ryan, tryan@shawanoleader.com
It has been six months since a 22-year-old Michigan man was found dead of an apparent hit-and-run in Shawano County.
Authorities have still not located the vehicle involved, but the case remains open and active, according to the Shawano County Sheriff’s Department.
Timothy J. Meade, 22, of Stephenson, Mich., was found at 2:30 a.m. June 28 in the eastbound lane of traffic on County Road M at the state Highway 29 overpass in Shawano.
Meade was visiting friends in the area and was headed back to their residence after leaving a nearby drinking establishment, the Sheriff’s Department said.
He left the establishment sometime after 1:30 a.m. and several witnesses reported seeing him walking.
“We’ve contacted an enormous amount of people,” Detective Wade Wudtke said. “We’ve collected traffic information and data that we’ve been following up on as far as who takes that road of travel and everything. We’ve knocked on a lot of doors, talked to a lot of neighbors, followed up on a lot of leads.”
For all that, he said, “we haven’t come up with anything.”
Wudtke said the department is still hoping someone will come forward with information.
“We’re trying to plead to anybody out that knows anything about this to come forward, because there’s a family that lost a loved one that we’re trying to give closure to,” he said.
Wudtke said it will be particularly hard on the family in the coming week as they face their first holiday season without him.
“This isn’t anything about prosecuting anybody right now. We just want closure for the family,” he said.
Chances are the driver who struck Meade on June 28 was unaware that it even happened, Wudtke said.
Initial autopsy results indicate Meade was lying down in the road at the time he was struck sometime between 1:30 a.m. and 2:30 a.m. Authorities believe the vehicle involved was a sports utility vehicle or similar with a higher chassis.
“We aren’t looking to maliciously go after somebody who didn’t know what they hit, or don’t realize what they hit,” Wudtke said. “We want to get closure and help the family heal their hearts.”
The Sheriff’s Department can be reached at 715-526-3111.