HOUSTON -
A grieving family is looking for closure nearly a week after their loved one was killed on the Gulf Freeway from a hit and run.
Answers have been hard to come by in the days since Christopher Gaona's death. His family is now asking anyone with information to step forward so they can understand why four separate cars hit Gaona without stopping.
In the early morning hours last Sunday, Gaona got in a small one-vehicle accident. The driver's side door was trapped against the outside wall of the HOV lane, so he got out on the passenger's side. His phone was dead, so he tried to cross the highway to get help from one of the roadside businesses.
He never made it, and his family wants to know why.
"I can't even function," said his mother, Michelle Cruz, through choked-back tears.
Cruz was clinging Friday to a small piece of cloth taken from the boxer shorts her son was wearing when he was hit and killed. Having the checkered cloth close made her feel close to the son she will never see again.
"I would have given my life to give my son more time to be with his son, my grandson," she said.
Gaona was a father to his son, 2-year-old Jaden.
"He prided himself on being the best father ever," Gaona's sister Amy said.
According to his family, Gaona was also a best friend to many.
"He was just so easy to talk to. There wasn't anyone who wasn't approachable. Everyone was so approachable to him," his sister said.
Gaona's shining personality makes his death harder, loved ones said. Adding to their pain is the fact that none of the four drivers who hit Chris' body stopped to help him. Only one 9-1-1 call told police what happened, officials said, and everyone else zoomed by.
"He was a father, he was a son, he was brother, he was an uncle, he was nephew, a grandson. He was not a piece of trash in the road. He wasn't a piece of carpet. He wasn't just junk in the road and these people ran over him like he was, and no one stopped to wonder what the hell they hit that morning and no one still has because no one's come forward," Amy Gaona said.
Gaona's family is begging for someone to come forward. They are asking body shop owners to watch for damaged cars. They want people to call police with anything that might give them a small piece of closure to how their loved one died.
"Nobody deserves to die on a freeway in the manner he did: alone," Cruz said. "I wasn't even there to comfort him,"
Answers have been hard to come by in the days since Christopher Gaona's death. His family is now asking anyone with information to step forward so they can understand why four separate cars hit Gaona without stopping.
In the early morning hours last Sunday, Gaona got in a small one-vehicle accident. The driver's side door was trapped against the outside wall of the HOV lane, so he got out on the passenger's side. His phone was dead, so he tried to cross the highway to get help from one of the roadside businesses.
He never made it, and his family wants to know why.
"I can't even function," said his mother, Michelle Cruz, through choked-back tears.
Cruz was clinging Friday to a small piece of cloth taken from the boxer shorts her son was wearing when he was hit and killed. Having the checkered cloth close made her feel close to the son she will never see again.
"I would have given my life to give my son more time to be with his son, my grandson," she said.
Gaona was a father to his son, 2-year-old Jaden.
"He prided himself on being the best father ever," Gaona's sister Amy said.
According to his family, Gaona was also a best friend to many.
"He was just so easy to talk to. There wasn't anyone who wasn't approachable. Everyone was so approachable to him," his sister said.
Gaona's shining personality makes his death harder, loved ones said. Adding to their pain is the fact that none of the four drivers who hit Chris' body stopped to help him. Only one 9-1-1 call told police what happened, officials said, and everyone else zoomed by.
"He was a father, he was a son, he was brother, he was an uncle, he was nephew, a grandson. He was not a piece of trash in the road. He wasn't a piece of carpet. He wasn't just junk in the road and these people ran over him like he was, and no one stopped to wonder what the hell they hit that morning and no one still has because no one's come forward," Amy Gaona said.
Gaona's family is begging for someone to come forward. They are asking body shop owners to watch for damaged cars. They want people to call police with anything that might give them a small piece of closure to how their loved one died.
"Nobody deserves to die on a freeway in the manner he did: alone," Cruz said. "I wasn't even there to comfort him,"
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