Family Searches for Hit and Run Killer of 18-Year-Old (Photos of Suspect Vehicle)
Eureka resident Marsha Allen is hoping someone in Humboldt County may have more information on the hit and run crash that left her beloved grandson, Hunter Allen dead back in August.
On Wednesday, August 1, 2018, at approximately 3:12 a.m., CHP officers were dispatched to a report of a body in the roadway on Highway 101 northbound, just south of Humboldt Hill Road. Upon arrival, officers found 18-year-old Hunter Allen deceased on the roadway.
While investigating, officers had reason to believe a red 1986 Chevrolet Blazer could have been involved in a crash with Allen.
…The vehicle has been found and is impounded at this time….The CHP is asking for the public’s help in identifying the driver or current…owner of the Blazer. The license plate number is California/lSBA584.
“I am hoping that someone out there will come forward with information on who was driving this red Chevy blazer on the early morning of Wednesday, August 1,” stated Marsha Allen, the grandmother of Hunter Allen. “We just need that one break to help us identify the driver. It is possible that the driver of this vehicle had been staying near the Pine Hill/Humboldt Hill area or this vehicle might have been parked in that area.”
Allen is so committed to finding the driver of the Chevy Blazer that she hired a local sign company, renting an electronic sign board that shows photos of the possibly involved vehicle. “The specific sticker on the driver’s side rear of the vehicle reads, ‘My Other Car is Out of Gas’ will stand out to someone who remembers seeing it in their neighborhood,” stated Allen. “I want to bring closure for our family on this tragic incident. If you have any information, please contact our local CHP.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact the local CHP office [at] 707-822-5981.
Note: The electronic bill board sign is located on the east side of the 4100 block of Broadway-for southbound traffic. Note: “The vehicle hasn’t been legally registered since 2014. It has sold many times since then.” (People don’t understand or realize that just because you have a license plate that does not mean that the last person to own it– is the suspect.)
Earlier Chapter:
- Unidentified Young Man Found Dead on 101 Near Humboldt Hill Exit
- 18-Year-Old Eureka Resident Identified as Deceased Man Found Near Humboldt Hill on Hwy 101
- 18-Year-Old’s Death Caused by Hit and Run, Says CHP
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Good luck. 🕊🕊
I’m confused how do they not know who the vehicle is register to?
Could it have been a stolen plate? It does seem sort of impossible not to know the registered owner of at least the license plate number. Doesn’t the VIN tell them who the last registered owner is even the the plate is not current?
I received some further information from a friend of the family who sent out the press release and added this note that might help clarify:
Note: “The vehicle hasn’t been legally registered since 2014. It has sold many times since then.” (People don’t understand or realize that just because you have a license plate that does not mean that the last person to own it– is the suspect.)
Maybe “current registered owner” in the release should be changed to “current owner or operator.”
I don’t like to mess with press releases (They’re basically one long quote) but I think you are right. I removed the word registered and replaced it with ellipses.
Was the person that hit him ever caught and charged?
Prpoblem. If the purchaser doesn’t register the vehicle there is no way to trace it. Except for the last legal owner who hopefully signed the release of liability form and sent it to DMV: so he won’t be held liable for future costs.
A good thing to do.
People buy it and don’t bother “wasting money” to transfer ownership and get current plates. See that happen more often than it should.
If the CHP has the vehicle and license plate, shouldn’t they be able to run down the registered owner with their computer? Isn’t that what they do every time they pull someone over on the highway?
Unless it was recently sold and paperwork was started. The buyer may have used a fake name or the original owner didn’t do paperwork completely. Many assumptions can be made.
why does the dmv not have some sort of registered owner? heck, they keep track of everything. make the last known owner prove who they transferred it if they claim it was sold. someone owned it at one time.
Just a reminder, we’re talking about the DMV who can’t get an updated registration sticker to you in a timely manner. Mine expired on Jan. 1st. Despite mailing in my renewal on Dec. 1st, I still haven’t received the replacement some six weeks later. Shall we get into the issue of wait times or voter registration issues. The list goes on, and on, and on————————————Here’s a clue, they’re bureaucrats.
Funny. I went to the DMV for a lost license and waited 30 minutes, and this was at the height of the crazy wait times a few months back.
And what is wrong with a DMV bureaucrat? Seems par for the course to be a bureaucrat when you are dealing with the driving privileges of 39.5 million people. Have their procedures and need for correctness and accuracy put you at risk? Or are you just a whiner and don’t have the imagination enough to think of anything original to whine about?
Really, you’re defending the efficiency of the DMV. Do you work for the County? They operate work at a level of inefficiency that requires an effort to achieve.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/networth/article/DMV-overload-so-bad-the-SF-office-couldn-t-book-13136462.php
Any government agency will never win with people like you. If they add staff to help the people who wait until the last minute to try and schedule an appointment, you will call the DMV “bloated” and that it has grown too large. All government to you is bad and you will always find something to whine about.
I’d love to know what the conservative, free market solution is to regulating and tracking vehicles, drivers and insurance information. Toll booths on every corner?
The DMV only seems inefficient because you’re looking at it like a driver. From a logistics perspective, its an assembly line of humans. If you want it to work better and be a more pleasant experiance, you have to spend more money.
Or you could get AAA. I never deal with the DMV anymore!
You notice these so-called “conservatives” NEVER complain about the “bloated” incredibly inefficient “Defense” Department/Pentagon or the public going in debt to the tune of trillions of dollars 💵 just to pad the already outrageous profits of “defense” contractors who fill the campaign coffers of their “conservative” politicians. 💰🐘💰
But having to wait in line at the DMV? It’s time to clutch those pearls, “conservatives” – why I never! How dare the DMV ask me to wait in line in a state with 40 million people and maybe a dozen local DMV employees on duty in Humboldt County! Cool your jets, “conservatives”. Yes, you have to wait your turn just like the rest of us.
Speaking of jets ✈️, doesn’t it bother you at all that “conservatives” in Congress keep appropriating untold billions of dollars for aircraft and weapons systems that weren’t even recommended or requested by the American military? But as long as Boeing and Lockheed Martin are happy 💰😃💰, I guess that’s all that really matters to you so-called “conservatives”.
do you have any proofs or any evidence to support this or is this just what you were told by someone else? who told you “conservatives” love the pentagon? and if so where is the poll to say how many people “love” the pentagon? so many holes in your accusations and unnecessary hatred
http://www.people-press.org/2017/04/24/with-budget-debate-looming-growing-share-of-public-prefers-bigger-government/attachment/61/
Amusing, the classic response of the bloated bureaucracy fans. First of all I did not, and never did, say all government is bad (to TQM). My assessment of the dmv is based on comparison. Here’s an example; travel to Texas, Arizona, Florida, or Utah and walk into a dmv office where licensing is administrated at a fifth the cost. Example; my BMW motorcycle costs $300.00 a year to register here in the “golden state”. In Florida it’s $42.00 for a two year registration or in another metric 14.28 times more. My comparison is also based on what I’ve seen change after 75 years as a California resident. I lived in this state when it was run efficiently. The roads were the pride of this Nation. I remember when Bing Prentiss, the head of the what was at that time the DOT, during a heavy storm would be on the highways directing crews and sometimes with a shovel in his hand clearing D.I.s (for you millennial’s that’s a drop inlet). When your wait time was 10 minutes at their office. I could give you a hundred more examples but this is long enough. By the way, the average gas price in Texas is $1.72.
The DMV doesn’t determine registration fees, they just administer them.
Hmmm . . . I paid my fees and received my sticker within seven days. Not sure why you did not.
So am I and attempted to call yesterday but the wait time was 2 hours so I hit the call me back prompt. They never did.
Don’t they have a VIN to check?
Uh fingerprints???? That would show who was in the car in the last few months.
Cameras on stoplights throughout eureka should easily ping that license plate, it reads and runs every single car that passes through. Traffic cams too. Scour them for this car.
Hire a private investigator, only way to get things done here.
Do we not have anywhere that does fingerprinting? Im sorry but id way rather have the federal officers that are here helping with things like this rather than chasing down some farm worker who may not have legal papers or some treesitter saving our last big trees.
Guess theres no monetary profit in finding hit and run drivers.
Cmon police surprise us and actually do some foot work to catch this coward. Even better let him be found trespassing backwoods somewhere!
Im so sorry for your loss and pls keep us updated on how we can help your family.
RIP 💕
Hmm… maybe you should call the CHP and tell them that you prefer they don’t chase down undocumented farm workers, which they aren’t doing anyway unless these workers were on the road unlicensed in unregistered vehicles… oh wait a minute…
this isnt a tv show. little evidance can be pulled from a vehicial fingerprints like in the movies. infact when your ride gets stolen or broken into ,they dont even bother to fingerprint the rig.
AC…that is not because the information gleaned would not be useful. it is because they are lay-zeeeeee. county employees like everything about their jobs, but the work part— according to what ive seen. and you can double that unwork ethic for all elements of law enforcement….they like their guns and their free pass, but the work, not so much.
why does law enforcement believe that this is the vehicle? Where was the vehicle found? What other evidence was found at the scene? Why is the license plate blacked out in the photo?
People drive too fast, and too recklessly around here.
Condolences.
Are you kidding about Humboldt residents driving “too fast”? (Apparently you’ve never been to Southern California before. ☀️). I’ve been here a long time, and what I’ve seen much more of are drivers who appear to be HIGH AS HELL 🔥 driving so far under the speed limit that they could (and in many cases probably should) be ticketed for impeding the flow of traffic, since NONE of them have enough sense to pull to the side to let drivers who aren’t high as hell get to their jobs, etc. (I realize having a job to get to on time is a foreign concept for many of our slow-ass, high as hell Humboldt drivers, but that is still no excuse for driving while impaired. Just stay home when you’re THAT high!)
I think we can all agree that people around here drive the wrong speed.
If I was the sleuth on this one I’d start my investigation in the community that’s least likely to register or insure their vehicles, and disproportionately involved in crime.
So, the entire county?
How bout you start with the last registered owner or seller and start pressuring from there? It’s the law to register a vehicle, charge everyone of them and get to the responsible party
The authorities aren’t interested unless there’s the possibility of asset forfeiture.
.
I think Dragonfly is on to something here.
Wouldn’t that make an interesting local news story (hint hint, Kym 👈🏼)? How much time does local law enforcement spend on crimes where asset forfeiture is a possibility vs. more serious crimes that do not involve potential asset forfeiture?
A disproportionate amount of time, no doubt. Good luck getting local law enforcement management to tell you the truth about that subject! You would have to interview departmental analysts, etc. on deep background to get to the detailed truth of that question.
do you really think they document what time they spent during the day on what subject?
I see many posts asking why DMV doesnt have a record of the owner, really? Did you ever think that in the history of the vehicle’s life, a purchaser or (thief) might have just not bothered going to the DMV, just started driving it, no insurance, no paperwork, then maybe they got pulled over, so instead of dealing with the paperwork, they sold it to another who did the same, followed by [insert any number] other people who did the same.
What a frustrating situation- to have the vehicle yet not to able to connect it to anyone. I do hope this is resolved.
Wow, so many comments from people who haven’t read the article. They don’t have the information or the DMV would tell them. A vehicle can be sold multiple times and never transferred. I’ve done it, bought a rig, wouldn’t pass smog so I sold it before it expired to someone else, with the knowledge that it won’t pass smog. If it hasn’t been registered in 5 yrs. it has probably been used with false plates. Lots of shady characters probably had this rig. For it to have never been registered. Or it’s been broke down on someone’s yard and they just got it running.
I’m sorry your heart is broken grandma. Hugs to you.
Just another borrowed car from Murder mountain.
Why was he on the freeway late at night -?
Why does that matter ? [edit]
I wonder the same. That is awfully late to be on the road.
That vehicle was probably driven by a transient. It looks to be in poor condition.
It is hard to track registered owner if the paperwork was not legally registered since 2014 which means it could have changed ownership 20 times and still not legally registered to anybody cuz if it don’t smog or pass inspection depending on paperwork it rides in limbo and if the legal registered owner files release of liability to it it is not legally registered to anyone yet. The change of ownership gives new pending owner temporary legal to drive to fix to pass legal steps to validate ownership. It’s a DMV nightmare. Personal experience twice and never again. Paperwork is a must for me before purchase always now. Hard lessons learned.
Kym I know this is not the place or time but how can I get u to report my truck was broken into last night and 2000 $ in saws were taken I live in fortuna
Did you make a police report? I think it starts there and then info is released to the press. I think you can submit your own news report maybe with a photo of the saws.
If you have made a police report, send me photos and a description of both what is missing and what happened and the report number to [email protected] (I have a family event tonight so it might not get up til tomorrow.)
I didn’t have actual pictures so I went on internet and got some but those are the same saws thank you for helping we really appreciate it
This story is so heartbreaking! A young man struck down just as he is beginning his independent life. So Sad!!
My condolences to Grandma and to the community that knew and loved Hunter!
Unfortunately,I think a sizable reward of $5,000 or $10,000 would do a lot better than the billboard to bring someone forward. Anyone who knows the scumbag driving that vehicle is probably equally as much a scumbag and will roll over on them for cash in a heartbeat. Offer a reward, if no one comes forward…no money lost, if they provide information that leads to an arrest…closure, and that my friends is worth any amount of money.
Other states issue the license plates to the owner of the vehicle, so when you sell the car you take the plates. This would force someone to get their own plates. Much better way to track the owner if you ask me.
When you buy another car you put put your plates on your car and register it.
Kym, Thank you for the story on Hunter Allen…. How the DMV and all the other stuff that was not even part of the story was brought into this , it just goes to show how people are so consumed with politics and not real sad stories… Thank you again for being so fair…. and to the grandma who is trying to do what she can ….BLESS YOU….
It 100% had to be an illegal immigrant driving the blazer, which explains why it wasn’t legally registered with proper insurance. The driver will probably never be found, bless this poor family.
It happens too often. Illegals drive around drunk and uninsured, injuring and killing American citizens.