HOUSTON — It’s been a long week for Lisa Rye. She's stricken with unbearable grief while trying to process the senseless loss of her 35-year-old son, Eric Rye.
"Every day we wake up and kind of relive the nightmare, the disbelief," Lisa said.
Eric, who family members said was known to be a hard worker, was out working a second job on July 30. Just after midnight, Houston police said he was struck and killed during a hit-and-run crash at the intersection of Fountain View and Inwood drives.
"He was Door-Dashing. There was a bag of food found nearby him," Lisa said.
His loved ones lined the intersection at which he was hit with flyers of his picture. They are pleading for information as a makeshift memorial marks the spot where Lisa said her son was found unresponsive.
"He had made his way somehow to try to get to a door, but he didn’t make it quite to the door but they heard noise outside and opened it and saw a man collapsed on their front grassy area and called 911," Lisa said.
Eric was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. Doctors said he died from internal injuries.
"There were tire marks and some road rash on his body," Lisa said.
Eric leaves behind the love of his life: Ruth Ayheuasi.
"Eric was my company, was my friend, was my boyfriend, some part of me died with Eric that night," said Ayheuasi said.
Lisa and Ayheuasi are left grieving with more questions than answers.
"Whoever did this knows they did it and as far as I’m concerned, they can be looking over their shoulders for the rest of their life and behind their back because nobody, my family or myself, is going to stop until we find this person," Lisa said.
Houston police said that as of Sunday, there were no known vehicle or suspect descriptions.
Anyone with information about what happened is urged to contact the HPD Hit and Run Unit at 713-247-4072 or speak anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477).
Rye's family said they're offering a cash reward of an undisclosed amount for information that could lead to an arrest.