An 8-year-old girl is an orphan after her dad — Justin “Kyle” Presnell — died in a North Carolina crash, loved ones said.
Screengrab from Facebook user Jess Rogers
A single dad was killed in a hit-and-run, leaving his 8-year-old daughter without parents, loved ones told North Carolina news outlets.
Justin “Kyle” Presnell, 36, is remembered as a proud father and a DJ who “was always the life of the party.”
“He is a great dad,” Crystal Hill, a cousin of his late fiancee, told WGHP. “He lives for her. He goes to work and he comes home and takes care of his daughter.”
But Presnell’s life was cut short when he was walking early Tuesday, April 16. A driver hit him on North Holden Road and left the scene, sparking a search for clues, the Greensboro Police Department wrote in a news release.
“They left him for dead like a dog,” friend Rondelle Hagens told WXLV.
Loved ones said they don’t know why Presnell was walking in the road at the time of the crash. He died three years after his fiancee was killed in a crash, leaving their young daughter struggling to cope, WXII reported.
“I’m devastated; I mean, she’s lost both of her parents,” friend Jessica Rogers told WFMY.
As family members and friends try to provide support for Presnell’s daughter, he is remembered in news reports as a dedicated father who followed his dream of working as a DJ.
“When he walked into a room, it lit up,” Hill told WGHP. “He always had a smile.”
As of April 16, officers said the vehicle involved in the crash was unknown and an investigation was ongoing. Police didn’t immediately share additional information with McClatchy News on April 19.
Facebook users believed to be Hagens and Rogers didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.