ESSEX COUNTY, Va. — Memories of Trenton Schnakenberg lay scattered about his grandfather’s property.
“This cedar tree he wanted to make a totem pole,” Dwayne Schnakenberg said. “The totem pole will never get done.”
They are physical reminders of all the years the pair spent together.
“He’s always with me, it don’t matter where I’m at,” Dwayne said.
But, on Nov. 19 of last year, Dwayne learned Trenton would never visit his property again.
That’s the day Dwayne outlived his beloved grandchild.
“My firstborn grandson," Dwayne said. "He was special."
Trenton died when the tractor-trailer he was driving on I-95 crashed into an overpass support in Prince William County. He was 31 years old.
“It ripped the entire truck open," said Rebecca Fisher, Trenton's aunt. "The trailer opened. The FedEx trailer got ripped wide open."
Fisher said the family quickly learned the crash was not Trenton’s fault, despite what they were seeing on social media.
“When there is a truck accident with a semi-truck, they always want to blame the truck driver, and there was a lot of that on social media,” Fisher said. “That was really difficult.”
She showed CBS 6 a copy of the crash report from the Virginia State Police.
It shows an Infiniti car merged into Trenton’s lane and hit his truck on the front right-hand side, which caused the truck to crash.
“It was a semi-truck. How do you not see a semi-truck in the lane next to you? What was going on?” Fisher asked.
The driver of the Infiniti received medical treatment from emergency response before fleeing the scene, according to Trenton’s family and news reports at the time of the crash.
“All the time I wonder why they didn’t stop him,” Fisher said.
Over a year later, police are still trying to find him.
“I don’t feel like this is a criminal mastermind," Fisher said. "I feel like he should be leaving some kind of trail."
She said that the trail begins with the crash report, which contains the name and address of the driver of the Infiniti. It also shows that police charged him with a hit and run.
“How would it take over a year to track somebody down for this when you had their name and address from the beginning?" Fisher asked. "It’s very frustrating and disheartening, and it’s hard."
The Interim Public Relations Director for the Virginia State Police, Matthew Demlein, said VSP is still attempting to locate the suspect in this case. It remains an open and active investigation.
“There is some reason that they haven’t got him, and I’d hate to think they’re just not capable of finding him,” Dwayne said.
“You wouldn’t think a traffic violation would take this long,” Fisher added.
CBS 6 legal analyst Todd Stone said law enforcement agencies have limited resources, which makes it challenging to track down every individual wanted for a felony.
Consequently, many people with outstanding felonies and misdemeanors remain at large.
All the family can do is continue to wait, and hope that one day they will get justice for Trenton.
“I want him to at least know that he didn’t get away with it,” Dwayne said.
“Nothing is going to bring Trenton back, and I know that," Fisher said. "But I do want justice for him at the very least because he shouldn’t be gone."
Trenton’s family wonders why VSP never released the suspect’s image or name to enlist the public’s help in finding him.
We asked Demlein if VSP would like us to show their image or name. He said he has released all that is available to release at this time.
We are following this story. Email your thoughts to the CBS 6 Newsroom.
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