Wife mourns husband of nearly 70 years killed in hit-and-run while doing yard work

PELHAM, Ga. (WALB/Gray News) - The family of an 88-year-old hit-and-run victim says they will never stop looking for the driver who allegedly left him for dead.

Amos Anderson, 88, was doing yard work Friday evening in front of his home in Pelham, Georgia, when a vehicle traveling east hit him. After the impact, the vehicle quickly reversed and headed back west, WALB reports .

When deputies arrived on scene, they found Anderson's body in a ditch on the south side of the road and skid marks along the street.

Investigators are still searching for the driver involved in the hit-and-run. Anderson's family, too, vows to never stop looking for the driver.

"We want him found, and we ain't gonna quit looking until we find him," said Ann Bond, Anderson's daughter.

Investigators say it appears the driver came over the steep hill in front of Anderson's house while he was trying to cross the road. Due to how steep the hill is, it is hard for drivers to see pedestrians below.

It is currently unclear if Anderson was killed on impact, according to investigators.

"I just would like to know who left him in the ditch and turned around and left. They could have helped him," said Anderson's wife, Mary Nell-Anderson.

What makes this hit-and-run case so difficult is the fact that there was no debris left behind from the accident, and no witnesses were present. Experts say such cases are typically hard to solve. Some agencies report the hit-and-run conviction rate is less than 10% of all cases.

"We do not have any leads on anything at this time. We walked around, knocked on the doors of neighbors... We just want witnesses to come forward. We don't have anything at this time, but we are working as hard as we can on this case to help figure out what happened and give the family closure on this," said Jacob Pollock, lead investigator with the Mitchell County Sheriff's Office.

Anderson was a self-employed paint contractor. He is survived by his wife of 68 years, his four children, seven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren, according to his obituary .

His family is accepting donations for funeral expenses through the funeral home's website .