Family remembers Daryl Payne, hit-and-run victim, as they seek answers

 

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind.-- Daryl Payne's family is grieving and looking for answers in the hit-and-run that killed their loved one in late August.

"We just want closure," said Nathan Payne, Daryl's older brother.

Daryl Payne Sr. was born Sept. 4, 1970, in Niles, Michigan.

"He realized at a young age, that he had a gift for art," Nathan said. "He's always been able to freestyle draw. And he was pretty good at it."

"He would draw anything," said Daryl's sister, Denise Hunter. "Like watching TV, and he would just draw whatever was on the TV."

Eventually, his family moved to South Bend, and Daryl attended Clay High School.

"And then right out of school, he went to the Marines," Hunter said.

He spent four years in the military, serving as a sharpshooter in Desert Storm, his family said, before returning home to South Bend.

He had a son around that time too, got married, split, and never remarried. He kept drawing, but never made it his career.

"We always got on him about-- 'Hey you could be drawing for movies or magazines,' and he'd just laugh it off, he never wanted to do that, he just liked doing it," Hunter said.

"I never understood why he never used his gift for financial gain," Nathan Payne said. "He was offered contracts. And he turned them down."

Daryl got close with his nephew, Marquise Chatman.

"He's always been around. Always. We hang out all the time," he said. "We always are together. He's like my favorite uncle, we're two peas in a pod. We both like the same music, we like to wear the same clothes."

He was living with Marquise and his mom, Daryl's sister, on Locust Road, when police knocked on the door on the morning of Aug. 28.

"'We found him deceased along the road. Up here on locust road,'" Chatman recounted.

"They just said it was a hit and run," Hunter said. "He was still on the street when I got there. But he was covered up."

Hunter helped identify his body, she said.

"That's like the last picture that I have of my brother," she said. "Seeing him laying there with his eyes open."

It's been nearly a month, and still, no suspect has been identified in the hit-and-run that killed Daryl Payne.

"That's what makes it so bad, it's cause you just left him there," Hunter said. "You had stopped, maybe he'd still be here. What if you could've got him some help?"

The family wants closure and wants to know why this happened to Daryl. They are hoping by telling his story, the person responsible will come forward.

"Daryl was somebody's son. He was somebody's brother. He was somebody's dad. He was a grandfather. He was somebody's nephew," Payne said. "He didn't deserve to end this way."

Now, Daryl's family is advocating for more safety measures on Locust Road, like sidewalks and street lighting, starting a petition.