One Year Later, Lodi Family Looking For Answers In Fatal Hit-And-Run

LODI (CBS13) — A Lodi family is angry and frustrated that no one has been arrested in a fatal hit and run car crash from last year.

The crash killed the beloved husband and father, now on the first anniversary of his death, they are making another appeal for information on the suspect.

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Friends and family released balloons in honor of Mercelino Castellano Wednesday, but time has not yet healed the pain his family feels. Mercelino, a father of four, left behind 28 grandchildren, some of whom are still asking when he'll be home.

His wife Jane still wears a locket her husband gave her on their anniversary last year. This year would have been their 50th anniversary.

Mercelino was driving with two co-workers to their job in Woodland when their car was hit on I-5 near Hood Franklin Road. The hit and run driver left the car on the freeway and disappeared before CHP arrived.

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Merced Ramirez was one of the survivors of the crash.

"I looked up right away and I could see the rearview mirror and the passenger side mirror I could see the headlights and all of a sudden it seemed like someone hit me with a baseball bat," Ramirez said.

Ramirez now has permanent damage to his arm and cannot work.

"All it does is aggravate me because the person who done it is still walking out there," he said.

One year later, and the California Highway Patrol says the crash is still under investigation.

"You would think that there would be an arrest by now but there's nothing and what these people did to us is not fair," he said.

Family members say they hope someone who knows the driver will come forward with information.

The family is also working with a local victims' advocacy group to increase the reward for this and other crimes that remain unsolved.