BRATTLEBORO — The family of a man killed by a hit-and-run driver in December 2013 is offering a $10,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of the driver who was responsible for the fatal incident.
Eugene Narrett, 64, an artist, author, and scholar from Maynard, Mass., was struck and killed on Dec. 5, 2013, at about 7 p.m., while crossing Western Avenue at Union Hill.
Brattleboro police have been investigating the case ever since. They believe that the vehicle involved in the crash was a SUV or pickup truck, and that the vehicle would have sustained significant front end damage.
According to Narrett's son, Gabe Narrett, his father was in town that evening for Gallery Walk. Gallery in the Woods on Main Street was displaying some of his artwork.
“He painted and showed his work a lot in New York when he was at Columbia,” Gabe said, “but he gave it up in the 1980s. He started up painting again only a few years ago. He really enjoyed it.”
Narrett's family had a vacation home in South Windham off Windham Hill Road, and members of the family were regular visitors to southern Vermont.
“We must have made that trip at least 500 times.” Gabe said. “He certainly was not a stranger to Brattleboro.”
Little progress has been made by police in the investigation, and no one has stepped forward or accepted responsibility for Eugene Narrett's death.
So Gabe and his family thought it was time to get things moving again.
They hired a private investigator, put together a poster that they have distributed on social media, and made a four-minute video calling attention to the case, which can be seen at youtu.be/vPESdnZkZbE.
“We hope that, with some exposure, we might be able to generate some good leads,” said Gabe.
The video has been out for a couple of weeks, and Gabe hopes that someone will step forward.
Gabe said he lost his mother to cancer when he was young, “but at least there was time to say goodbye. Something like this that happens so suddenly, it's still hard to believe.”
And while the pain of the sudden loss of his father has subsided a bit, he still admits it is difficult to deal with.
“It's important to me, to my family, to the community that whoever did this step up and do the right thing,” Gabe said.