A 41-year-old man's family is looking for answers after he was killed by a hit-and-run driver while walking home on Highway 240 early Sunday.
"We just want someone to take responsibility," Rodolfo Angulo's sister, Maria Buxbaum, told the Herald.
"We are willing to forgive. I just want them to know it's not in our heart to punish," she said.
The father of three was walking in the eastbound lanes of the highway when he was hit about a mile east of George Washington Way in Richland, said Washington State Patrol Trooper Chris Thorson.
The driver didn't stop but another driver came along and found Angulo in the road at 2:20 a.m. and called 911. But he died before he could be taken to the hospital.
Buxbaum said her brother was walking home from Richland when he was hit. She is afraid the driver was intoxicated and doesn't want to come forward because of that.
Angulo grew up in the Tri-Cities and is one of nine children. While he had a challenging youth that involved some run-ins with the law, he turned his life around when he discovered carpentry.
"Once he found carpentry, he just bloomed into a man," Buxbaum said. "He was just getting his life started."
Angulo had been a union carpenter, but recently had decided to start working with sheet metal, she said.
He loved to work on cars and would often help people with their car repairs, she said.
"My brother would never leave anyone stranded on the side of the road," Buxbaum said. "He was a very caring individual."
He leaves behind three children, ages 21, 15 and 10. The two younger ones live with their mother in California, Buxbaum said.
The family has set up a Venmo account if anyone wants to donate to his funeral expenses. She said any money going into the account would help pay those costs or go to his children. Donations can be made at bit.ly/AnguloFuneral.
Investigators have few details about when Angulo was hit on the dark stretch of highway or the type of vehicle that hit him.
They know it was heading east and likely will have damage to the front bumper, hood and possibly the windshield.
The Washington State Patrol is asking anyone with possible information to call Detective James Stairet at 509-378-2753 or 509-734-5818 or email James.Stairet@wsp.wa.gov.
