Hit and run remains unsolved

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The site of a hit-and-run accident more than a year ago at 7 Straitsville Road in Prospect. Mary McCormack, 79, was snowblowing her driveway at 7 Straitsville Road when she was hit by an unidentified vehicle at about 8 p.m. on Feb. 8, 2013, state police said. She was pronounced dead at Saint Mary's Hospital in Waterbury. The case remains open, state police said. –RA ARCHIVE
The site of a hit-and-run accident more than a year ago at 7 Straitsville Road in Prospect. Mary McCormack, 79, was snowblowing her driveway at 7 Straitsville Road when she was hit by an unidentified vehicle at about 8 p.m. on Feb. 8, 2013, state police said. She was pronounced dead at Saint Mary’s Hospital in Waterbury. The case remains open, state police said. –RA ARCHIVE

PROSPECT — Resident Trooper Matthew Comeau will always wonder when he sees a pickup truck with a snowplow on it if maybe that driver knows something about the hit-and-run accident last February.

During the historic blizzard on Feb. 8, Mary McCormack, 79, was snowblowing her driveway at 7 Straitsville Road when she was hit by an unidentified vehicle at about 8 p.m., state police said.

She was pronounced dead at Saint Mary’s Hospital in Waterbury.

Comeau said state police had obtained video of a possible vehicle of interest in the area, but they weren’t even sure if it was involved. It could have been a person who saw or knew something, he said.

Connecticut State Police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance said at this point no driver has been located and the case hasn’t been closed. If anyone has information, they are encouraged to call police, he said.

“We are certainly looking for any help that anybody can give us,” Vance said.

McCormack’s death touched many in the community. Community members, friends and town officials at the time remembered her as honest, meticulous and loving.

“She was a big part of our community,” Mayor Robert Chatfield said Saturday. “It was a tragic way for her to go. We will miss her.”

McCormack served on the town’s safety committee in the early 2000s, was a longtime member of the Prospect Senior Center, was a longtime parishioner of St. Anthony’s Church and was involved in the church’s Ladies Guild.

On a chilly morning this month, her home on Straitsville Road near the intersection of Salem Road was listed for sale.

Mary Ferro, who lived on the second floor of McCormack’s house at the time of the accident, couldn’t be reached for comment. The number listed for her at that address wasn’t in service.

Ferro previously told a reporter at the time of the accident that McCormack became more of a friend than a landlord. They did everything together, watching movies, going out for dinner and walking McCormack’s dog, she said.

Comeau last week said at this time the active investigation has been suspended, but police will always be looking.

For at least two weeks following the accident, local and state police looked at every pickup truck with a snowplow that ventured into town to see if it matched the one in the video, he said.

While the video couldn’t be enhanced, authorities could make out that the vehicle was a full-sized pickup truck with a sander in back and a snowplow on it, Comeau said.

Visibility was bad that night, and the house is in a dark area, he said. There was a travel ban, too. The only trucks out there were drivers plowing, Comeau said.

“We always wanted to find the pickup that we had seen in that video,” Comeau said.

Police always want to hope for the best, he said.