CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – The family of a 13-year-old boy struck by an SUV and killed in a hit-and-run crash Saturday night doesn't believe someone could have hit him and not known.
"I would tell them to turn yourselves in. You hurt so many people. That was my baby brother," Katie Alvezios said of the driver.
"Please, please turn yourself in," Jenny Alvezios, the boy's mother, pleaded.
Brien Alvezios was either walking with or riding his bicycle on Branan Field Road, an unlit stretch of highway without much of a shoulder and a speed limit of 45 mph, when he was hit. Brien was about a mile from his home, just south of Trail Ridge Road in Orange Park. He died at the scene.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, a driver heading southbound hit Brien from behind on the side of the road and drove off at about 9:40 p.m.
No one has been arrested, but investigators said Monday afternoon they're looking for a 2005-10 Jeep Grand Cherokee. They did not say what color.
"Today is not any better," Brien's father, Jack Alvezios, said Monday. He said he's been talking with investigators as they search for the driver in his son's death.
On Monday afternoon, a trooper was back out at the scene looking for clues.
"It is hard not knowing. Yes it is," Jack Alvezios said. "I just want justice done. I want whoever did this just to come forward and just turn yourself in. Please."
"My heart is broken, and I am grieving," he added. "I'm not angry, but my heart is broken."
Brien was an eighth-grader at Wilkinson Junior High School. His principal, Dr. David McDonald, said the school is working to help students understand what happened.
"If kids come to school and need some help, our counselor's of course are available," McDonald said.
Brien's father said his family met with a counselor Monday afternoon.
"A heartless, heartless person," Jack Alvezios said of whoever would leave his son to die on the side of the road. "Maybe somebody that didn't have a valid driver's license, didn't want to stop, or maybe he was drunk."
Investigators did say the vehicle should have damage to its front right side, specifically in the headlight area and possibly to the hood.
If you have any information that could help investigators, call the Florida Highway Patrol at 904-695-4115.