News

Bicyclist killed in Monroe hit-and-run

MONROE, Wash. — Police are searching for a driver who hit and killed a bicyclist on U.S. 2 in Monroe and then fled the scene.

Officers said the woman was trying to cross the highway at Old Owen Road at about 7:36 p.m. Wednesday when she was struck by an eastbound driver.

Using video surveillance, the Monroe Police Department identfied the driver's vehicle. Police said that they believe the vehicle to be a white late 80’s to early 90’s Ford F-series pickup with a dark blue or green stripe.

The driver had been stopped at a light behind two cars. He or she revved the engine, sped around the two cars and struck the cyclist.

The two cars pulled forward, not knowing a woman was in the road, and hit her as well.

The driver of the truck did not stop.

Jose Ortiz was at work nearby and called 911.

The pickup truck was gone, but the other drivers stayed on the scene, in shock.

"That's really insane. I couldn't live with something like that," Ortiz said.

The Snohomish County Medical Examiner said the victim's name was Debbrah M. Pesce, age 53. Friends said they called her Debbi.

Her residence is unknown.

One of Pesce's friends was too distraught to talk, so she gave KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Lee Stoll a note describing Pesce as a model of love and kindness.

"My family and I felt helpless," Pesce's friend Carol McMeekin said. "You wanted to do so much and you couldn't."

"That could have been your daughter, your mother, your sister," friend Charley Johnson said. "This was somebody's daughter, mother, sister."

Johnson said that she hopes the driver turns himself or herself into police.

"If the cops don't find him before we do," she said, "there will be nothing left to find."

Officers searched for the vehicle through Wednesday night and Thursday.

"We'd like to have a chance to at least get their side of the story and go from there," Debbie Willis of the Monroe Police Department said.

Police ask anyone who witnessed the crash or may have more information about the pickup to call Monroe police at 360-794-6300 or an anonymous tip line at 360-863-4600.