Family of Danville hit-and-run victim searching for missing memorial

DANVILLE, Ill. (WCIA) — A cross marking the spot of a Danville hit-and-run death has gone missing. Now, the victim’s family is looking for answers.

The family wants to find the irreplaceable memorial dedicated to Tyler Rodriguez. They said he was walking on the side of the road in Danville when he was killed almost four years ago. The cross has been gone for about a month, and family members want to know where it went.

Tyler’s father, Troy Rodriguez, said it was one of a kind, and one of the things he always wanted to have to remember him.

“It was made by my uncle, which would have been his great uncle,” Troy said. “And it can’t be replaced because he’s passed on.”

It’s something that means a lot to family members like Marcia Rodriguez-Sanchez, too.

“I decorated that cross every season,” Tyler’s aunt, Marcia, said. “Easter, Christmas, Fourth of July, Halloween. You know, I put lights and all kinds of stuff on it.”

She said the marker was put up a year after Tyler died. Police said he was walking on the side of Route 150 near Interstate 74 in Danville on July 4 ^th , 2020. That’s when a car hit and killed him.

Tyler’s father said the cross was a reminder of the person he was.

“Caring. Loving, too. Awfully friendly. [He had] friends all over. I still run into friends today,” he said.

The family had recently decorated the memorial to glow in the dark, about two weeks before they noticed it was gone.

“We contacted various places to see if they did it, or took it, and nobody has,” Troy said.

The Illinois Department of Transportation takes care of the stretch of road where the cross was placed, but officials said nobody has seen it, and they don’t actively look to remove homemade memorials either.

“We have repaired that cross in the past,” Marcia said, “where, you know, one of the lawn guys may have clipped it or something. And we took it home and repaired it.”

The marker was anchored in the ground, making its disappearance that much more questionable. The family said the memorial gave them a way to honor a son and nephew whose death investigation remains unsolved .

“We still don’t even see the light of justice, even at this point,” Marcia said. “With that being said, the least somebody could do is return it.”

Family members are offering a cash reward for the return of the sign, “no questions asked.”

As for the investigation into his death, all authorities know is the person who killed Rodriguez was driving a silver sedan. They’re asking anyone with information to contact Danville Police .

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