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Mystery, but no breaks, in Pennsylvania hit-and-run probe

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

But police say that they have yet to achieve a breakthrough in the investigation.
“It’s an ongoing investigation but we’ve had no tips from the community. We’re still in the process of reconstructing what happened,” Trooper Bill Satkowski said.
Smith, a 37-year-old married man with a 3-year-old daughter, was found dead by Interstate 81 on Wednesday morning, Dec. 18. The car in which he had been driving alone was found crashed about a half mile from where his body was found. It had apparently veered off the highway and down an embankment.
Smith had managed to walk the intervening distance from the car, but police believe that at this point he was struck by another vehicle.
At one point, investigators told the family that it was thought possible that Smith may have died from injuries sustained in the original crash. But the death certificate recorded “multiple blunt traumatic injuries” sustained as a result of being struck by a vehicle.
The dead man’s brother, Patrick Smith, said that his brother, who was from the Coolock area of Dublin, and had been living in the U.S. since 1994, had put on three coats, which he had with him in the car before he had started walking.
Smith said he did not believe that this was the action of a man with injuries that were inevitably fatal.
Satkowski said that the medical examiner’s report into Smith’s death would likely not be ready until the end of the month.
One puzzling aspect of the case is that the keys to Smith’s car have not been found by investigators, Patrick Smith said this week.
Paul Smith had lived in Hanover Township, close to Wilkes-Barre, with his wife, Elaine, their 3-year-old daughter, Kaylee, and Smith’s stepson, Christopher Mendoza.
Patrick Smith, who lives in the area, said that his brother’s widow, Elaine Smith, had not yet met with police investigators and was seeking a meeting, possibility with an attorney present.
Paul Smith had worked in construction and was a member of Laborers Union Local 130 in Scranton.

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