OLMSTED TOWNSHIP-—A makeshift memorial still stands on Cook Road, more than two months after a hit-and-run accident took the life of 13-year-old Charles Kho.
Neighbors like Joan Taylor continue to bring flowers to the site of the accident that took the boy’s life on Oct. 17. He was walking to a friend’s house during the day.
“It`s a small way to show our sympathy,” Taylor said. “And we`re trying to support the family for what they were going through. Any child lost is so sad, and our heart goes out to the family very much.”
On Friday, police formally charged 80-year-old Helen Fettes with vehicular homicide. If convicted, she could face 10-and-a-half years in prison.
Fettes is accused of fleeing the scene of the accident and later taking her car in for repair, said Dina Hanrahan, a secretary at Ganley Lincoln in Middleburg Heights.
“She was very suspicious. She wanted to get there in a hurry and didn’t want to use her insurance,” Hanrahan said. “You know, I knew she knew something. I mean, that`s what prompted me to look at the car was her actions.”
Hanrahan said the woman’s story didn’t quite add up.
She decided to look at the car—something she would not normally do. What she discovered next prompted her to call police.
“I don`t know why but my first instinct was that it looked like it hit a person,” she said. “And I asked somebody to come over and look and we found hair in the windshield.”
The charges do not surprise Hanrahan. She said she thinks of the tragedy every day, and hopes now that the family can finally get closure.
Until that day in court, neighbors like William Moody vow to honor Charlie. The accident occurred in front of his house.
He remembers hearing the boy cry out, “What happened?”
“I don’t think I can ever forget that, hearing him,” Moody said.
A tiny Christmas tree sits on the site of the accident—among other gifts—for the boy who died on his 13th birthday.
“He was too young. It’s tough for everyone involved,” Moody said. “The poor little kid lost his life. It`s a shame. It`s a shame.”