Eastern Iowa woman pleads for an arrest in hit and run death of her son
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Fourteen-year-old Kaiden Estling was riding on his moped when a vehicle hit him on June 28th, according to authorities. It happened on Highway 150, just two miles south of Fayette.
The teen died at the scene. Law enforcement has been looking for the driver ever since. His mom April Estling is devastated that somebody could do that to her son.
She says, "What kind of a monster could do this. I mean I cried the first time I hit a squirrel. I felt horrible. That was just a little squirrel. This was a human. This was a fourteen-year- old boy that had the rest of his life ahead of him.”
She made a memorial for her son where the accident happened. She visits it weekly to find peace. The memorial is a cross, with a lot of his favorite things.
She says, "I tend to come here on Thursday night's around the time that it happened, and I just sit here and listen to music, and think about him, and talk to him.”
Estling sometimes has visitors when she goes there. She says, "Every time I'm out here, a sheriff will stop and talk to me for a minute, and he said I assure you we're working this case hard."
Not knowing the color, make or model of the car that hit her son has her worrying there won't be justice for Kaiden.
She explains, "In the back of my mind, I'm thinking, you know what if we don't find this person, what if we don't know who did this. That thought I have to kick out of my head, because right now I think finding this person is what's driving me to be strong and hold on."
Blue ribbons are hanging around Estling's hometown of Maynard to show support for Kaiden April will continue visiting the site where he was killed, seeking closure and wondering why.
She says, "He's never coming back, he's never walking through our door again, he's never going to be there to make us cheer up again when somebody's sad, and just knowing I have to go the rest of my life without him."
There is a $1,500 reward for anybody with information that leads to an arrest. Information can go to the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office. Their number is 563-422-6067.