Deadly hit and run

MONTCALM COUNTY, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - Police are working to find the person who left a man for dead in Montcalm County.

Just before 1:00 Thursday morning, police got a 911 call about a body lying in the middle of Federal Road, just north of Sand Lake.

When police arrived on the scene, they found the remains of 30-year-old Scott VanZyl.

A wild night fueled by alcohol in Montcalm County turned into tragedy for a man who police say was apparently walking in the middle of the road after midnight when he was hit by a car. Unfortunately the person driving the vehicle did not stop to help him along the way.

A father of four, Scott VanZyl, was dead in an instant. Deputies believe that he was struck by a vehicle and the driver sped away without helping him.

Now, VanZyl's friend is outraged and hoping for answers.

"I should have said something, why don't you just stay here, stay home," said Theresa Veltkamp, VanZyl's friend.

Veltkamp lives right next to VanZyl and says there was a skirmish between VanZyl and another man at the complex just hours before VanZyl was found dead on the road.

Veltkamp says she was so scared about the fight that she ran upstairs and locked herself inside, with her friend following her.

"He came back up to say something, and I was just so scared I went up and locked the bathroom, I should have said something," said Veltkamp.

VanZyl left the house, never to be seen again.

"Scott went off on his own somewhere," said Walter Roundtree, a friend of VanZyl, "we didn't know until later on that, we didn't know where he went."

Investigators think VanZyl was walking in the southbound lane of Federal Road, nearly a mile away from his apartment, when a car traveling south struck him. Deputies say VanZyl was drunk at the time of the incident.

Now, VanZyl's friends say that while he was drunk, he certainly didn't deserve to be hit and left there.

"Turn yourself in, please give it up," said Veltkamp, "let the families have closure of who did this to him."

Deputies say they've checked several cars owned by people who passed by the body on the road but haven't found anything conclusive.