TRAGIC: 60-year-old man killed in hit-and-run dealt with life-long effects of crash decades ago

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Police continue to look for the driver responsible for hitting and killing a man on Milwaukee's north side last Saturday afternoon, January 17th -- but they have nothing to go on. Investigators say they have yet to find a single witness. It has made the loss even more difficult for the family of Johnny Ray Mathis.

"He was used to getting up and just walking -- taking long walks early in the morning," Mathis' sister, Bernice Carter said.

Carter says her 60-year-old brother had the mental capacity of a nine-year-old. He was in a car accident as a teenager in Mississippi.

"He had to learn everything all over from a child up. He had to learn how to walk, talk, take care of himself," Carter said.

Carter says part of that self-care came from those long walks. She believes that's what Mathis was doing Saturday morning.

Police say it appears Mathis was in an alley near 12th and Finn when he was struck by a car and dragged into the street.

The driver fled the scene.

When investigators told Carter where her brother was hit, it immediately made sense. The home their mother lived in until her death in 2010 is just feet from where it happened.

"He knows for sure there`s no one there. I think he just felt like he wanted to go over there and take a look around," Carter said.

Carter says she wants to know who is responsible for making Saturday morning's walk her brother's last. She's convinced the driver responsible knows what happened.

"I cannot imagine anybody keeping that in and I pray to God that they would, that they would open and tell what`s going on," Carter said.

Mathis' funeral is planned for Monday morning, January 26th at Monumental Baptist Church.

Police are asking that anyone who may have information in this case to please give them a call.



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