Three incidents on Wellfleet’s roadways in the last 26 months left three people dead. No one has been charged in any of those cases, and the families and friends of the victims of these crimes are left wondering what has been done to find out what actually happened.
On the night of July 10, 2023, music teacher Jeffrey Richardson, 59, of Brookfield, Conn. was found lying on Route 6 with severe head injuries. He had been walking home from a meeting, his wife said. He died the next day. The police said at the time that they were looking for a vehicle with damage to its passenger side. Now, two years later, they say they are still investigating, but they’re not sure it was a hit and run.
Timothy Duval Jr., 24, of Tallahassee, Fla. was walking on Ocean View Drive on the night of May 24 when he was killed by a motorist who drove away. The police reported they had “multiple leads,” and on June 23 they said they had impounded the vehicle involved. Nearly three months later, however, no one has been charged.
Wellfleet Chief Kevin LaRocco told the Independent that District Attorney Robert Galibois had prohibited him from speaking about Duval’s case. But Galibois’s office said Wellfleet was in charge of the investigation, and questions should go to the Wellfleet police. LaRocco hasn’t responded to questions about these contradictory statements.
Most disturbing is the case of Sheila Kelley, 63, of Eastham, who was killed just before 7 a.m. on Oct. 10, 2024 when a box truck on Route 6 slammed head-on into her Toyota, which was crushed. She had been the proprietor of Kelley’s Flowers in Wellfleet for 42 years.
There is little question about who was responsible. The driver of the truck was Alexander Addo, 60, of Worcester, who had been delivering Amazon packages for his employer, 7 Days Logistics of Taunton, since 2:30 a.m. He was heading off-Cape after making his last delivery in Provincetown. Witnesses saw him drive across the double center line and rumble strip and into Kelley’s minivan. The police said he “couldn’t explain” what happened.
The Wellfleet police issued a press release the next day that named Kelley but did not name Addo. It said that the state police were in charge of the investigation. Nearly a year later, Addo has still not been publicly identified or charged by any agency, though he has been named in court documents.
Kelley’s sister, Margaret Dahill of Eastham, has tried unsuccessfully to get the state police to answer her questions — which is the same thing Jeffrey Richardson’s widow says about the state police. Dahill has filed a wrongful death suit in Superior Court to try to get even the basic facts of what happened.
The state police now say that the district attorney is in charge of the case. After receiving reporter Christine Legere’s inquiries, the D.A.’s office said they expect a report from the state police “before the end of this month.”
We’ll watch for that report. Will it explain why it took so long for our law-enforcement agencies to produce it?
