Matthew Carter died 2006

CARTER, BALES

Posted By: Cheryl Locher Moonen (email)
Date: 10/27/2015 at 23:03:21

HOPKINTON - Matthew Carter was walking home from a family camping outing early Sunday morning when he was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver, family members said Monday.

"We were all camping, family and friends, at a friend's house near Monticello when he left about 1:30 a.m. He was walking home to see his fiancee," said his mother, Monica Bales of Hopkinton.

He had traveled about 3.5 miles when he was struck on Jones-Delaware Road southwest of Hopkinton, she said.

Carter's sister, Samantha Bales, 19, who was driving home from the camping outing, found his body on the road and called 911 at 6:17 a.m. Sunday.

"As soon as I got close enough to see, I knew it was him," she said.

Deputies responding to the call found Carter's body about a mile east of the 255th

Avenue intersection, west of Hard Scrabble County Park.

An investigation by sheriff's officers in Delaware and Jones counties continues.

"We have not identified a vehicle, but we are doing what we can to find it," Delaware County Sheriff John LeClere said.

Monica Bales said her son had been drinking but that he was not impaired. "He was fine when we last saw him," she said.

She said she did not know enough about the extent of his injuries to judge whether his life might have been saved by prompt medical attention.

Family members said Carter was a welder and auto mechanic who stopped a year short of graduating from Maquoketa Valley High School in Delhi.

He spent his leisure time camping, fishing, hunting mushrooms and driving off-road vehicles, they said.

His fiancee, Melissa Murray, 23, of Hopkinton, described Carter as "the perfect guy, my best friend."

Samantha Bales said her brother was "always smiling and happy, always there to help."

Carter's funeral starts at 11 a.m. Friday at Goettsch Funeral Home in Monticello. (See obituary, page 4B.) - Contact the writer: (319) 934-3172 or orlan.love@gazettecommunications.com

Public's help sought

--Anyone with information about the fatal hit-and-run accident is asked to call the sheriff's offices in Jones County (319) 462-4371, Delaware County (563) 927-3135, or the State Patrol (319) 283-5521.

Gazette, The (Cedar Rapids-Iowa City, IA) - Tuesday, July 11, 2006