Man turns in Jeep suspected of involvement in hit and run

Test results of evidence collected may take a month to come back.
GIRARD -- A McDonald man voluntarily relinquished his 1999 white Jeep Cherokee to police, who are "95 percent sure" the vehicle struck and killed a pedestrian around 1 a.m. Saturday, Capt. Frank Bigowsky said.
Bigowsky said Tuesday that the man invoked his right to not answer questions without a lawyer present. The captain declined to identify the Jeep owner and said he wouldn't speculate if the man was driving when 66-year-old James Felger of McDonald was killed.
"We have means available to narrow it down," Bigowsky said of evidence needed to show who was driving.
Felger was found around 1 a.m. Saturday after a passer-by spotted a body alongside the road at the west end of the Girard-McDonald Viaduct. He lay where West Liberty Street and Marshal Road come together.
At a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Bigowsky said leads poured in after the hit-skip. A tipster called police Monday and told them where the Jeep, which matched the description of debris found at the scene of the fatal hit-skip, could be found.
Bigowsky said the Jeep, with damage to its front end, grille, right side and hood -- had been taken to a building on North Main Street that a man rents to do body work.
The building is about 1 1/2 blocks from the police station.
Bigowsky declined to say whether the man who does body work on North Main called in the tip.
Vehicle on display
The Jeep, absent its grille and license plates, was shown to reporters in the police garage. Bigowsky said a technician with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation had examined the sport-utility vehicle and collected evidence.
He said it could be three to four weeks before results of the tests are back. In the meantime, the Trumbull County prosecutor has been contacted about what possible charges would be filed.
Bigowsky heaped praise on officers who worked to solve the hit-skip. The investigation included contacting body shops and salvage yards.
He said a break in the case came quickly.
Felger lived alone, had no close family and always liked to walk, Bigowsky said. "That's what he did."