Small community keeps quiet about fatal accident
Mar 6, 2013, 4:07 PM | Updated: Mar 7, 2013, 5:06 pm
Lucinda Pieczatkowski, 57, was struck and killed by a truck while walking in North Bend on New Year's Eve. And detectives are confident more than one person knows who did it. (Facebook image)
(Facebook image)
Two months after a fatal hit and run accident on New Year’s Eve near North Bend, detectives hope someone with knowledge of the crime will have the courage to come forward.
Lucinda Pieczatkowski, 57, was struck and killed by a truck while walking on 394th Place NE.
A broken headlight found at the scene led detectives to impound a 1988 Ford F150 pickup truck that they believe is connected to the crime.
A spokesperson for the King County Sheriff’s Office said detectives know who owns the truck and some members of the community seem to have a good idea of who was driving it that night.
“It’s all very hush-hush,” said the parent of a child at Mount Si High School, who spoke to KIRO Radio on the condition on anonymity. “From what I know from my child is that they know who did it but nobody wants to come forward and say anything because they don’t want to get him in trouble.”
The parent took the information she overheard to a detective, who told her that it was consistent with what he believed happened that night: that a young man left a party in Fall City and hit Pieczatkowski while drunk behind the wheel.
“He had a list of names of kids that were at the party and that he just needed one person to come forward to say that they could put this boy at the party and say that he was driving the car,” she said.
Few with first-hand knowledge of the accident have called detectives, despite a $1,000 reward for information.
“Put yourself in my shoes and you’d want the person who did this to your family member to come forward as well,” said Pieczatkowski’s son, Erik. “Withholding bringing this person forward and not speaking to the facts is unbelievable to me.”
West said detectives have made progress in the case, but need the public’s help to make an arrest.
“I just think that people need to do the right thing,” she said. “The right thing isn’t always the easiest to do.”
Meanwhile, a blue cross marks the spot where Pieczatkowski was killed.
“Rest in peace Lucy,” it reads. “We love you.”
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the King County Sheriff’s Office at (206) 296-3311 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
